Socratic Circle Questions. Bees are a metaphor for life because they symbolize personal growth, maturation, and personal exploration. This is basically the circle of life. Bees tell Lily that she needs to leave T. Ray and escape her horrible life as his daughter. Bees started the personal growth of Lily Owens, and the bees became her guide. She followed the bees to Tiburon, after catching a glance of the Black Madonna honey jar. Once she reaches her destination, she becomes a beekeeper and decides to stay there (page 74.) Life involves difficulty, and the bees overcome obstacles and challenges. At the end, because of the bees leading her to her destination, she finally confronts T. Ray about who really shot her mother. The scene takes place when Lily breaks free of T. Ray’s control and tells him to say. T. Ray is about to leave when Lily stops him and pops the question. T. Ray hesitates for a few seconds, but then says gently “I could tell you I did it. That’s what you wanna hear. I could tell you she did it to herself, but both ways I’d be lying. It was you who did it, Lily. You didn’t mean it, but it as you” (page 299.) Although T. Ray basically said Lily did it, she doesn’t trust him and has her answer: T. Ray did it. After T. Ray drives off, the bees come and surround Lily, where the climax of the story slowly draws to a close. The quote in the first chapter talks about the queen of the bees. If we remove the queen, the workers soon will also die, since the queen is the unifying force of the community. In the first chapter, Rosaleen is the queen in Lily’s life, since she controls Lily and practically the household. When Rosaleen gets arrested after offending the racists of the town, Lily feels the effect of Rosaleen missing from her life, and will do anything to get her back in the life. The quote in the 5th chapter talks about how inside a beehive, it is completely dark. Since bees are a metaphor for life, the entire chapter deals with the fact...