At the beginning of the novel, Lily becomes mesmerized by the bees fluttering around her room and watching them fly as she lays in bed. It furthers comes to understanding that the bees play a greater role in the life of Lily Owens. The bees in Lily's room serve as a guide to get out of T-Ray's house and follow on her journey to Tiburon where she lives in the honey house. At the Boatwright house, August teaches Lily many important lessons of beekeeping; which reflect good practices in life. When August asks Lily what she loves, the first thing that comes to mind are bees. Lily had never entirely felt genuine love from someone, the bees were one of the only things she knew. The bees serve a grander purpose in the life of Lily Owens by being her guide through difficult times. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, created the bees to be a metaphor of life, such as people working together in society; the worker bees all centralize around the queen bee and without her they are disfunctional. An example of this is when August teaches Lily about when the queen bee dies, the worker bees are quite confused and cannot work properly. August then shows Lily that the queen bee can be replaced, and the workers are back to normal. This symbolizes Lily and her mother. Her mother has been replaced by August, who shows her the same genuine love as a mother-daughter relationship.