Symbolism In The Secret Life Of Bees

(TS) In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens does not have an empathetic relationship with her parents as a result of the loss of her mother and an abusive father; however, Lily gains a new family figure, August Boatwright, who shows her the true empathy that is present between a parent and their child. (PS) Lily Owens’s absence of a mother and a “real” father causes Lily not to have a relationship with her parents that is filled with affection for one another. (SS) When Lily lost her mother, Deborah Fontell, she was told that she had shot and killed Deborah. (SS) Lily would say, “I would meet her saying, ‘Mother forgive. Please forgive,’” and she would kiss my skin till I grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame”

The Queen bee is the novel’s symbol of a mother figure and is used throughout Lily’s

August Boatwright, the fictional beekeeper in the bildungsroman, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, insisted that “the world was really one big bee yard” (Kidd 92). Therefore, it is fitting that beehives represent a family unit or a community, of which love, symbolized by honey, is produced. In the beginning of the novel, a “queenless hive” serves as an accurate representation of the life of Lily Owens, the fourteen-year-old protagonist of the novel, whose mother died under peculiar circumstances when Lily was four, leaving her without a queen bee, who is considered “the unifying force of the community,” and in the hands of an abusive, neglectful, and unloving father, bittered from the absence of his wife (Kidd 1). Eventually, Lily

Lily starts to feel that she has developed a bond with the Boatwright sisters. Lily does not have a good relationship with her father. He makes her feel unwanted and abuses her verbally and physically. Lily’s father comes to the Boatwright’s residence and demands that Lily returns home with him but she refuses. The sisters inform the father that Lily can stay with them and they pledge to take good care of her, “ I still remember telling myself that when he drove away that day he wasn’t saying good riddance; he was saying, Oh, Lily, you’re better off in that house of coloured women. You never would have flowered with me like you will with them” (Kidd 299-300). Lily came to the realization that her father was not fit to provide her with the love and nurturing that she deserved. The sisters provided her with a loving environment where she feels protected. Also, the Boatwright sisters, especially August, are strong female role models. Lily will model her ideals, values and morals after the Boatwright

Lily starts off stuck living in an unloving, abusive household and decides to free herself from the negative atmosphere that she had been living in her whole life. Lily is perpetually abused by her father. He forces her to kneel on Martha White's, gets exasperated every time she speaks, and yells at her for no reason. Lily is not the only one noticing the terrible treatment, Rosaleen does too. Once after Lily had to kneel on the Martha White's Rosaleen said to her, “Look at you, child. Look what he’s done to you” (Kidd 25). Noticing the unloving treatment Lily gets, Rosaleen knew that their household was demoralizing place for Lily to be in, which is why she didn’t question when Lily when she later runs away. Lily one day realizes she needs to do something about her horrible life at home. While sitting in her room she hears a voice in her

"New beekeepers are told that the way to find the elusive queen is by first locating her circle of attendants." (57) This quote is at the beginning of chapter three and not only foreshadows many things to come, but within the quote, two of the novel’s main metaphors are mentioned, bees and the queen, which is referring to society and a mother figure. Although this quote is largely interpreted as a metaphor for Lily looking for a new queen or mother figure, and perhaps August being that mother, I believe that it has another meaning as well. I believe that the Black Madonna also serves as a “queen” and mother figure to all the women in “The Secret Life of Bees.”

In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a young girl named Lily struggles with growing up with only a harsh father and a housemaid while trying to find her own place in the world. At the age of four, Lily accidentally shoots her mother while trying to help her in a fight against Lily’s dad. Ever since that day, Lily has a difficult time trying to be a lady and trying to cope with her somewhat abusive father. One day, when Lily is fourteen, the housemaid Rosaleen is sent to jail for pouring dip spit on white men’s shoes but later gets assaulted by the men and is taken to the hospital where Lily goes to sneak her out. In order to help incorporate the story’s title into the story, the author has written epigraphs, that are about bees, for every chapter in the book. Chapter two’s epigraph says “ On leaving the old nest, the swarm normally flies only a few metres and settles. Scout bees look for a suitable place to start the new colony. Eventually, one location wins favor and the whole swarm takes to the air”(34). This epigraph parallels the story because of the similarities in how bees move on and look for somewhere to start their new lives and how Lily and Rosaleen try to start their new

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees (2001), Sue Kidd creates a character, Terrence Ray Owens, that serves as the epitome of internal conflict. Kidd is able to show Terrence’s internal conflict through through a flashback from Lily’s friend August, and a series of violent actions inflicted on his daughter Lily. Kidd’s purpose in this novel is to display the ramifications of a broken home dynamic, in order to show how forgiveness to oneself and others is truly the first step to finding happiness.

When she finds the location from where the picture comes from, she finds it to be the Boatwright house with the icon of Black Mary as the label for the honey, which they make for their business. Lily thinks of it as if the bees lead her to the Boatwright household. When she first meets August Boatwright her intelligence, sensitivity and other caring characteristics are a revelation to Lily. Lily realizes what her father tells her is untrue and that she has some prejudice inside of her as well. “T. Ray did not think colored women were smart. Since I want to tell the whole truth, which means the worst parts, I thought they could be smart, but not as smart as me, me being white. Lying on the cot in the honey house, though, all I could think was August is so intelligent, so cultured, and I was surprised by this. That’s what let me know I had some prejudice buried inside me.” (Kidd 78)

There, Lily finds the matching picture that takes her to a family of beekeepers. Moreover, after being accepted into the family of African American beekeepers, Lily finds motherly love from one of the beekeepers, August Boatwright. Although the Boatwrights exists as African Americans, Lily finds more love from them than she had with her own despicable white father. After confiding to August about her favorite color, August does not disappoint Lily by remembering. When a neighbor offers to make Lily a hat and asks what color hat she wants, the novel recites, “August, who was listening in, said, ‘Blue,’ and winked at me”(Kidd 225). Once a person understands every bit of another person, the sheer interest for that person indicates an undying love. In this case, the color blue symbolizes the love that associates with frivolous details. Regardless of color, Lily judges a person’s love whether they pay enough interest in her to know her favorite color. Therefore, the color blue illuminates the theme that “Racism is irrational” and that a person’s sensitivity and genuine care sincerely makes up

In the passage from the award winning novel Secret Life of Bees, portrays Lily sneaking out of the house to be closer to her dead mother, which paints a picture of how much Lily wants to develop the bond with her late mother. To accomplish this task the author, Sue Monk Kidd, integrates numerous forms of figurative language such as symbolism , imagery, and comparisons using similes and metaphors to convey how much Lily desires to find a connection with her dead mother.

The worst slap across the face I ever got was when…,’” (153) T. Ray physically abuses Lily, which is never something a caring, loving person would do. As a result of these traumatic recollections caused by T. Ray, Lily feels unwanted, unloved, and alone. Since T. Ray is not involved with his religion and God, neither is Lily. She did not pray, which would have made her feel much better in her situation with her father. Lily did not have hope or faith that her life would get better, and did not have a positive outlook for the future.

In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, T. Ray is a frustrated and unloving character who makes an enormous impact on Lily’s character by making her feel self-conscious about herself and not worthy of being loved. T. Ray evokes hatred and disappointment in the reader by permitting this abusive and unfair treatment towards Lily. With his rough and furious exterior that is represented by grits on the hat, he is also proven to be filled with grief and hurt by his wife’s leaving and future death. To hide his heart-break and depression, he lashes out on Lily to build himself up.

This concept leads Lily to believe that the Virgin Mary is in many ways her mother, even though she is a mother to thousands of other people as well (Emanuel 41). Lily receives support and love from August and the community like the bees, though it is a secret to the rest of the world. The bees act as pathfinders for Lily as she learns more about herself, along with Zach

Family can be defined as individuals who are related by blood, yet it is more so about our ability to care for a person or people and for them to care for us as well. This same theme is demonstrated by many literary texts throughout history. One, exemplary novel is The Secret Life of Bees. Within the book, there are many exchanges between characters that stresses the importance of family and how there are no limits when it comes to choosing who you consider family and who you do not consider family. The relationships that structure the storyline prove this life lesson to be true. The story follows the main character, Lily. Lily has experienced many trials in her early years of life. While these trials do not define Lily, they certainly