The book, The Secret Life of Bees, is a historical fiction novel written expertly by Sue Monk Kidd that encapsulates the emotional and physical journey of a teenage girl searching for her identity. Lily Owens, a fourteen year old girl from Sylvan, South Carolina, has an enormous emotional burden that no one her age should ever have to carry. Her mother, Deborah, died when Lily was four, leaving Lily with her abusive father, T. Ray, and just three items to remind Lily of the past: Deborah’s gloves, a picture of Deborah, and a strange wooden picture of a black Virgin Mary with the inscription “Tiburon, SC” written on the back. Little did Lily know, that picture would bring her a multitude of not only grief and pain, but answers as well. The address soon …show more content…
Each of these epigraphs show how Lily's life compares to that of a worker bee, as well as displaying her struggle to find a new life. As she journeyed to find herself and information about her mother, she developed into a different character, one who started with no mother figure, not knowing how to cope with her abusive, misunderstanding father, and ended with many of her inner battles settled and a multitude of mother figures to look up to and love. Kidd’s use of epigraphs aided the development of Lily’s character, comparing her life to the life of a worker bee, as Lily journeyed to find another queen bee, or someone to look up to, as well as dealing with immense emotional stress throughout the process. The epigraphs really took the storytelling to another level as it gave the reader something to think about, as well as a bit more insight into the challenges Lily went through. Therefore, Kidd used the symbol of bees to suggest that Lily’s journey, or a similar journey of any human, may not differ so much from that of a worker bee in a