ipl-logo

Symbolism In Secret Life Of Bees

381 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The function of symbolism

In the book Secret Life of Bees, there are many important symbols that show up throughout the book. These symbols help us understand the theme and the meaning behind the book. Many times, these symbols are not obvious, and are hinted but not told directly to the reader. This book in particular, has many symbols that we must find to understand the book. One symbol told in the book is the statue of Mary. August had told Lily about the story of Our Lady in Chains, who was Mary, and also owns a statue of Mary. To understand it, August explained that it is important to have a religious icon that could fit in with different communities, which will help black people lean toward Black Mary. After that, August reveals that the statue is not a gift
Show More
Related
481 Words | 2 Pages

One of the themes presented by Sue Monk Kidd in, “The Secret Life of Bees” is pushing boundaries. In the book, Lily runs away from her abusive father and stays at a beekeepers house where she would be safe. This beekeepers house is a black family and while she stayed there and everyone was constantly pushing boundaries. The story relates to the article written by Nadra Kareem Nittle which was called, “How the Freedom Riders Movement Began”. This article was about a group of people called freedom riders traveling together to end the Jim Crow laws or other known as, racist laws.

Read More
1542 Words | 7 Pages

In American writer Sue Monk Kidd's fiction novel The Secret Life of Bees, the reader is introduced to Lily Owens, a naive and unfortunate character longing for her mother's absence. Growing up with an abusive father, T Ray, Lily is kept miserable until a stroke of confidence allows her to run away with the only person on her side, Rosaleen. Through multiple influences and revelations of truth, she can develop individually with the help of her new family, the Boatwrights, transforming her into a profound and confident character. One of the major influences Lily undergoes throughout the book is the religious rituals August and the Boatwrigts assign her. An example of this is the observance of a religious statue, The Black Mary, worshiped by the

Read More
156 Words | 1 Pages

Sue Monk Kidd applies indirect characterization in her novel The Secret Life of Bees to Lily, describing her as a free-spirited person in order to develop Lily’s growing desire to leave T Ray. One example demonstrated in the novel is found where Lily and Rosaleen watch President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act. Lily thinks about her opinion toward the wife of the President, ‘Lady Bird,’ while Johnson signs the act. “I did admire his wife, Lady Bird, though, who always looked like she wanted nothing more than to sprout wings and fly away” (20).

Read More
891 Words | 4 Pages

Bees are a mysterious species who have an incredible life that we know nothing about; in connection we live crazy, mysterious, lives with ups and downs; goods and bads. The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd is an extraordinary story about a teenager Lily Owens, her abusive father, her mother, and numerous friends. Lily lost her mother at a young age, so she runs away; she ends up living with a loving family of women and finds mothers within them. She learns about friendships, overcoming, forgiveness, and love. In The secret Life of Bees the author shows theme through conflict and symbolism.

Read More
1314 Words | 6 Pages

Things never stay the same for too long and we, as humans, are constantly faced with changes coming from each direction. No matter how hard we try, changes will never stop barreling towards us and continue to force us to constrain to the new paths of life we must take. There are stop signs or breaks in life and we feel the impact of these changes constantly. These life changes plays a large role in Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees. Water plays a large role in Kidd’s novel during many different parts of the story.

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

In The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily starts off by just knowing that her mother wanted to leave T. Ray, but died before she could, however, by the end of the book, Lily gains a better understanding of what actually happened when her mother died. One night as Lily lay in bed, she imagines her mother forgiving her, and “she would kiss my skin till it grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame” (3). This suggests that lily thinks of her mother as a perfect, loving mother that wanted nothing more than to be with Lily and away from T. Ray. She also uses this fantasy of her mother to make herself feel better about killing Deborah. Later on in the book, Lily finally confides in August about her mother.

Read More
400 Words | 2 Pages

The figurative language in the novel, The Secret Life Of Bees, defines the father, T. Ray, as controlling, because of his actions and emotions towards Lily. T. Ray is Lily’s father who punishes his child by making her kneel on Martha Whites, which are coarsely ground up corn flakes that feel like powdered glass, and dig into Lily’s knees as she kneels on them. After the hour that Lily kneels there, as Rosaleen takes a look at her knees and on page twenty six he marches in “despising” and “full of anger.” Lily thought that he could have still loved her after her mother’s death, but now he treats her as though he can control her into his will and doesn’t treat her as a father should. The words that are used to describe his emotions show just

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

Often in works of literature, symbolism reveals significant information about characters and the theme of the work as a whole. Symbolism in the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, is an example of this. The novel is set in the Dominican Republic, during a period of the tyrannical control of Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters, (Patria, Dede, Minerva, and Maria Teresa) from whom the point of view is set, are involved in the underground movement to rebel against Trujillo’s regime. Alverez uses symbolism to support the idea that those who may be initially considered harmless can make the biggest impact.

Read More
926 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout The Secret Life of Bees bees play a recurring role in the novel, repeatably being mentioned during the novel in epigrams before the start of each chapter and within the story itself. Unfortunately, on certain occasions the reason why bees are included in a certain part of the story can be unclear and confusing to readers, causing them to occasionally misinterpret the importance of bees throughout the novel. Regardless, the bees throughout play a very important role in understanding many of the themes and symbolism that Kidd included within the novel. In The Secret Life of Bees Kidd symbolizes Lily’s experiences and situations through the bees frequently present in the novel to show that seemingly different things can function in the same way.

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel Secret Life of Bees there are many characters with interesting backgrounds and unique characteristics. They each serve a purpose in the book to support the main character, push the character in a certain direction, and send a message to the readers. The character in the novel of Secret Life of Bees that Kidd makes me particularly admire is August Boatwright. August breaks the stereotype of black women in the South during this period. She lives in her own home with her two sisters and runs a successful business.

Read More
556 Words | 3 Pages

Around 100 different gods are related to the moon. Some live on it while others may only control it from somewhere else and few have no control over the moon at all. Another thing about these Moon gods is that most of them are actually women. In The Secret Life of Bees, author Sue Monk Kidd uses the symbolism of the moon to show a connection between femininity and divinity. Black Mary carries a crescent moon with her and has also been said to live on the moon.

Read More
302 Words | 2 Pages

In the Bildungsroman, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily, the young motherless protagonist, exists in a life which lacks love and care, but with an act of rebellion, alters the entire course of her life. After enduring cruel punishments from a sadist father, Lily accepts this as the way of life she must live. However, after a crucial moment, Lily begins to consider the idea of freedom from her oppressive life; she realizes this when she and Rosaleen, her substitute mother, come under arrest for disrupting the public and Terrence, her father, would only take Lily out of jail. This is a pivotal moment as Lily a heated conversation with her father and exclaims, “You don’t scare me”(Kidd 38). Her brash action to rebel against her father

Read More
133 Words | 1 Pages

Planned parenthood is a non-profit organization that offers profusions of services’ around the world to help individuals. Birth control is one of the services that is provided for sexually active women and teenagers. Different birth control methods available to chose from such as, birth control implant, birth control patch, birth control pill, birth control shot, birth control vaginal ring, diaphragm, condom, fertility awareness method, IUD (copper), and spermicide. Another service is General Health Care in which people can get anemia testing, cholesterol screening, diabetes screening, high blood pressure screening, pregnancy planning services, and thyroid screening. Which is beneficial for people with low income.

Read More
1311 Words | 6 Pages

How the decisions one makes can affect others in The Secret Life of Bees In American author Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, fourteen-year-old Lily Owens abandons her abusive father, Terrence Ray, with her caretaker Rosaleen. They set off on an adventure to find closure after her mother’s tragic death, and end up in Tiburon, South Carolina. She is taken care of by the Boatwright sisters, August, May, and June, who takes her under their wings and teaches her about their religion, while she learns about her mother’s life.

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.

Read More

More about Symbolism In Secret Life Of Bees

Related Topics

Open Document