Even though Lily felt anger at her mother for abandoning her and unleashes the rage by using honey jars as punching bags. However, she is able to come out of her anger and see that she is clearly in a community that loves her greatly. She accepts herself and comes out of the anger for the past. "The one that would let me know I was loved." (Kidd 276) Out of a hatbox of Deborah's belongings, a photograph sealed her mother 's fondness for Lily. Although the burden of taking away her mother's life is still abundant, Lily feels lighter knowing that her mother had been someone to have treated her, as she wanted, with love. .
Terrance Ray Owen's influence over Lily is that of a dark cloud that looms over her life. He is a cruel, indifferent, and refuses to comply Lily's emotional requirement as a fatherly figure. Earlier in the novel, T.Ray assumes Lily, who was laying out in orchard with her mother's belongings, had been canoodling with a male. Therefore, his punishment had been to set out grits on a flat surface that Lily will crawl over until her body was bruised. Although, he could have an inkling of attachment to Lily, as a product of his lost love, because he expresses contempt for Lily's confession of hatred towards him. "You can hate me all you want, but she's the one who left you." (Kidd 39) Albeit, he had been expressing sardonic humor towards Lily's suggestion of maternal love from Deborah, he had kept Lily with himself rather than give her to an orphanage. As told by August Boatwright, T.Ray was once a man who worshipped Deborah. However as their love died down, assuming mainly from Deborah who was married due to unwanted pregnancy, Deborah had a nervous breakdown which led to her leaving her husband. That led to a powerful blow to T.Ray's pride, which resulted in him abusing Lily for senseless reasonings. Lily was not able to comprehend that, for she was not aware about anything of her mother while she was alive.