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Rosaleen is Lily’s nanny and caretaker who helps protect Lily as much as possible from T. Ray. Throughout the novel, Rosaleen helps to illustrate Lily’s relative naïveté when it comes to racial issues. Although Lily doesn’t see herself as racist because she doesn’t hate Black people, she looks down on Rosaleen, considering her outspokenness foolish and constantly commenting on her burps and physical size. Lily thinks Rosaleen is asking for trouble when she tells everyone she’s registering to vote. While Rosaleen telling everyone of her intent to vote may put her in danger, her bravery is not the issue, but rather the racism of the violent white men. Lily also believes that Rosaleen cannot be a true mother to her because of the racist mores of society, instead of understanding that Rosaleen’s care is a kind of mothering regardless of how society reads it. Lily thus rejects Rosaleen’s wisdom about charm school’s superficiality, chalking it up to Rosaleen’s ignorance.
Although Rosaleen cares deeply for Lily, at moments in the book she grows frustrated with Lily’s lack of perspective. When Lily reveals that her plan is to go to Tiburon to learn more about her mother, Rosaleen scolds Lily for treating her like a pet, reminding Lily that she is a fugitive in great danger. She becomes frustrated that Lily attaches herself so readily to the Boatwright sisters, which could be read as jealousy or perhaps a worry that Lily sees her as interchangeable with other Black women. Nevertheless, Rosaleen loves Lily dearly, acting as her surrogate mother before Lily is fully prepared to embrace her as such. She tends to Lily’s wounds and sorrows, helping her clean the Black Madonna statue. Thus, Lily telling Rosaleen she loves her at the end of the novel is an important sign of Lily’s maturity. Lily is finally able to recognize the mothering Rosaleen has provided her, bound by ties of care, not blood.
