Danny: TSLoB

                The Secret Life of Bees is a book that is truly all about feminism and women empowerment. It can be seen across the book, from beginning to end. With a class consisting of primarily women, myself being the only exception, I think we can easily delve into the topic of feminism and all come to agreement with ease that women are pretty amazing all around. This book just proves that point even more.

Rosaleen is the first we see of these empowered women. She has taught herself how to read and write in secret, in attempts to get a chance to vote in the elections. The narrator tells us “Her name, Rosaleen Daise, was written twenty-five times at least down the page in large, carful cursive, like the first paper you turn in when school starts” (27). Then Rosaleen says, “For the Fourth of July they’re holding a voters’ rally at the colored church. I’m registering myself to vote” (27). Even after getting beaten, thrown in jail, beaten even more, and breaking out of a hospital, she brings this back up when she meets Neil, saying “Have you registered yourself to vote?” (105). She is a stubborn woman who holds fast to her beliefs and does not give them up, even if the world stands against her.

August is another strong female lead in the text. She is the queen bee of their bee farm, running everything and calling the shots. She and her sisters have their own religion of sorts. August tells Lily, “May and June and I take our mother’s Catholicism and mix in our own ingredients. I’m not sure what you call it, but it suits us” (90). She admits that she is the proud founder of the Daughters of Mary. When Lily arrives and June begins to question August in private, August is quick to take the lead and shut down the discussion, saying, “Let’s see if we can help her” (87.) Despite being the unpopular opinion, August wants to protect Lily from whatever she is running away from. She is a strong, motherly woman who is powerful in her mannerisms.

Finally, the subtlest, but probably most power image of feminism in this book is Our Lady of Chains, who the Daughters of Mary worship. This is the woman that gave birth to Christ and is often let to be forgotten after performing her part in the story. The story continues with the Son, but allows for the mother, the woman, to be left a mystery. These women worship the mother of the savior, idolizing a statue they have of her. This woman, Our Lady of Chains, is worshipped by women as a great woman who brought their salvation to them through her womb. They craft her into a symbol of femininity and female empowerment.

This book is excellent and provides a large cast of strong female leads. June, who distrusts others and sticks strong to her opinions, May, who shows the caring motherly side, but mental illness and the struggle to live with it, and finally Lily, who grows to realize that she is a woman and that Mary, who she calls her mother, is the source of her power.