In chapter one we meet Lily, the main character, a fourteen year old girl living during the '60s in South Carolina. She lives with her abusive, angry father and maternal, but sometimes fierce, Rosaleen. Rosaleen ( a African American woman who works for Lily's father) acts as a mother to Lily as Lily's mother was accidently shot and killed when Lily was four. It appears that Lily was the one who picked up the fallen gun and killed her mother.
Because of Lily's situation at home, she wears hand made clothes to school and is very unpopular. The book is told from Lily's point of view and she describes how the rest of her peers treat her. Some of the other girls talk about her behind her back, and Lily has never been invited to a slumber party, or any other social gathering. Lily has always kept suitcase ready, just in case. She also describes how her father refused to take her to homecoming, dances, or any other activity at school.
On July 2nd, when President Johnson signs the Civils Rights Act into law, Rosaleen decides to register to vote. The next day, Rosaleen and Lily go into town, but, on the way there they run into a group of men who harrass Rosaleen and in retaliation she pours her spit on the mens' shoes. They fight and the police are called. Rosaleen is arrested.
The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community: if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, the show unmistakable sign of queenlessness.
-Man and Insects
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