The Secret Life of Bees: Symbolism

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Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees is a story of a girl named Lily who accidentally shot her mother, runs away from her father, and ends up living with the Boatwright sisters. The book was set in 1964 which was right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. In the book the reader sees that the movement is in full swing whenever Rosaleen goes to vote, and she ends up getting beat up. By the end of the novel Lily lives with the Boatwright sisters and she becomes a beekeeper. There were many things displayed through this novel such as, racism, the impacts of a mother, spirituality, and symbolism. The author did a fantastic job using symbolism as a unique way to tell Lily's story.

The first symbol that is in the book is the bees. The bees represent Lily's life and the journey that she takes. Throughout the novel the bees kind of indicate what is in store for Lily. For example, in the book when she notice that the bees were no longer in their jar she took that as a sign that it was time for her to leave T. Ray. She says "Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open," which is the moment that she realized that she need to get away from T. Ray.

The second symbol of the novel is the beehive. The beehive represents the pink house and the community that is built within it. Just like in a beehive, everyone in the pink house worked to make honey. For example, August Boatwright was a beekeeper. She tended to the bees and made her own honey to sell. The honey is what lead Lily and Rosaleen to the Boatwrights' in the first place. Also another key comparison between a beehive and the pink house is that they are both female dominate.

The third symbol is the photograph that Lily has of her mom. It symbolizes the power of the relationship that she had. When Lily looked at that picture it was like she could feel her mother there. She wanted her to be there with her, so much so that when she took the picture out she wore her mother's white gloves too. Lily wanted to inherit her mother's looks, Later own in the novel Lily learns that Rosaleen and August Boatwright each have a picture of Lily's mother. When Rosaleen shows Lily the picture that she has of her mother she automatically feels closer to her. The picture that August has is of Lily and her mom when Lily was a baby. Lily struggles with the fact that her mother was not as perfect as she thought.

Finally, the last symbol is the Black Mary. The Black Mary symbolizes Lily's mother to Lily. The Black Mary is what leads Lily to the Boatwright sisters in Tiburon. Mary is the mother of all humanity so throughout the book she represents mothers in general rather than just Lily's mother. Mary is the inspiration of the religion that August teaches Lily called "The Daughters of Mary."


Comments

  1. Tiara A WintonOctober 16, 2019 at 5:19 PM

    I absolutely loved reading the Secret Life of Bees. I remember reading it during high school for one of my literature courses and I haven't read anything like it since then. Your use of symbolism makes the book easy to read and refer back to different parts of the book. How amazing it is to read about Lilly journey and than later find out that the powerful Boatwright sisters knew her mother. Lilly's mother escaped T-Ray and found her way to the Boatwright's and so did she. This was a perfect example of the connection between Lilly and her mother.

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