Some animals are treated with care and respect, while others are treated as if they were just a stone. This is because animals like elephants are sentient, while animals like rats are not. But ironically, they have the same intelligence. This is exactly like the racism that occurs in the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. 1964 was not a good date for black people. People were just sheep, treated differently because of their exterior. Kidd uses the physical description of certain characters to support Lily's thoughts. In this story, Lily overcomes her own type of racism, that of a living person and a non-living object. Kidd's main message from the book, The Secret Life of Bees, tells readers that physical appearance does not change the fact that everyone is human, because it is their personality that truly defines who a person is. In this story, people were just sheep, treated differently because of their physical appearance. Just like sheep, black people were treated unequally by white people. Rosaleen trying to register to vote is a good example. As Rosaleen went to town to register, three white men harassed her because she was black. One of the white men asks, “Have you ever seen one this black?” ". Then another white man said to Rosaleen, “Where did you get that fan, nigger?” (page 32). In this quote, Kidd explains how the three white men think they have a higher social standing than Rosaleen because she was black. This high-ranking thought extended to many people, and could not be easily changed. Racism was a major conflict for the characters and a problem they needed to resolve. Because black people were looked down upon, they were middle of paper......pting Lily, because she was unhappy with August's involvement in the white world. Because it is their personalities that truly define who a person is, Kidd's main message from the book, The Secret Life of Bees, tells readers that physical appearances do not change the fact that everyone is human. As a final lesson, Kidd was aware of the importance of treating others as equals. The most important lesson from this story is that people should accept others based on their personality, not their exterior. If people were externally determined, how would we know their true feelings? Kidd demonstrates the harmful effects that inequality can have, but he also draws a lesson that will be just as important in the past, today, and in the future. When people are able to accept others from within, it leads to equality within the human race, which resolves many conflicts in society..