Post 6: The plot (Natalia)

The Plot



Lily, a fourteen year old white girl, lives alone with her father, a peach farmer, in Sylvan, South Carolina.T. Ray, her abusive father. Lily recalls her very last memory of her mother, Deborah, who died when Lily was a small child. Lily thinks that she played a horrible part in Deborah’s death. In a flashback, T. Ray told Lily that she accidentally shot Deborah while Deborah and T. Ray were fighting one day. Soon Lily and Rosaleen become members of the community centered around the Boatwright house, a close-knit group of African Americans, mostly women, who call themselves the “Daughters of Mary” and worship a three foot tall statue of a black Mary. Lily meets the honey farm helper, Zach, a handsome, intelligent, African American boy on whom she develops a crush. In the fall, she returns to school, which she attends with Zach and where she makes other friends. August and her community become Lily’s new family, and, at long last, Lily develops into a loving person.





[PG 38-39]

As i stepped inside my room, he stopped at the doorway." I have to go settle the payroll for the pickers,"he said. "Dont you leave this room. You understand me? You sit here and think about me coming back and dealing with you. Think about it real hard."

"You don't scare me," I said, mostly under my breath. He'd already turned to leae, but now he whirled back. "What did you say?"

"You dont scare me," I repeated, louder this time. A brazen feeling had broken loose in me, a daring something that had been locked up in my chest. He stepped toward me, raising the back of his hand like he might bring it down across my face. "You better watch your mouth."

" Go ahead and hit me!" I yelled.

When he swung, I turned my face. It was a clean miss.

I ran for the bed and scrambled onto the middle of it, breathing hard. "My mother will never you touch me again!" I shouted.

" Your mother'? His face was bright red. "You think that god damn women gave a Sh** about you?"

"My mother loved me!" I cried.

He threw back his head and let out a forced bitter laugh.

"It's--- it's not funny," I said

He lunged toward the bed then presssing his fists into the matress, bringing his face so close I could see the tiny holes where his whiskers. I slid backward toward the pillows, shoving my back into the headboard.
"not funny?" he yelled. "not funny? why, it's the funniest goddamn thing I ever heard; you thinking your mother is your gaurdian angel." He ;aughed again. " The women could have cared less about you."
"Thats not true," I said. "It's not."
"And how would you know?" he said still leaning toward me.
A leftover smile pulled the corners of his mouth.
"I hate you!" I screamed
That stopped his smiling instantly. He stiffened. " why, you little bi***," he said. The color faded from his lips.
Suddenly i felt ice cold, as if something dangerous had slipped into the room. I looked toward the window and felt a tremor slide along my spine.
"You listen to me," he said, his voice deadly calm. "The truth is your sorry mother ran off and left you. The day she died, she'd come back to get her things thats all. You can hate me all you want, but shes the one who left you."
The room turned absolutley silent.
He brushed at something on his shirtfront, then walked to the door.


I chose this passage because this passage is important without this arguement happening with Lilly and her father Lilly would of never ran away and she would of never met the Boatwright sisters. Also Lilly wouldnt have gone to Tiburon a place where holds her mothers secret past. I think the significance is that the author wanted to show the realtionship Lilly has with her dad.