Symbolism In The Secret Life Of Bees

American writer Sue Monk Kidd’s fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees, is set in the interracial landscape of the American South in 1964, where 14-year-old Lily Owens is left to navigate a life of longing based around the blurred memory of her late mother. After fleeing her abusive home with her caregiver, Rosaleen, Lily finds herself living with the Boatwright sisters, who she later discovers are the key to her mother’s past. With the Boatwright sisters, Lily learns about spirituality through the Black Madonna, the fundamentals of beekeeping, and most importantly, the importance of family. She finds herself in a home surrounded by female role models, and is able to fill the hole her parents left behind with persistent love and feminine guidance.

August explains to Lily that “Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She’s not the statue in the parlor. She's something inside of you” (Kidd 288). The use of simile in comparing Mary to a magical being, like a fairy godmother, adds a childish undertone to August’s dialogue, and shows that regardless of what Lily has been through, August recognizes that she is still a child, one in search of comfort in the absence of her mother. The symbolism of Our Lady being “inside” of Lily and not just “the statue in the parlor” gives her a sense of belonging. No matter where she is, or what happens in the future, she is able to adopt the idea that Mary is always with her, she does not have to “put [her] hand on Mary’s heart to find strength and consolation and rescue… “[she] can place it right here on [her] own heart” (Kidd 288). The repetition of “her heart” and “Mary’s heart” throughout the passage allows the two to become interchangeable. The connection of the symbol of the red heart painted over the statue of Mary to Lily’s own beating heart enforces the idea of Mary being a perpetual part of Lily’s daily life. Additionally, August says to Lily, “This Mary I’m talking about sits in your heart all day long, saying, ‘Lily, you are my everlasting home.”, and follows with Lily saying “I closed my eyes, and in the coolness of the morning, there among the bees, I felt for one clear instant what she was talking about” (Kidd 289). Lily’s sense of home has been unstable throughout her life, so August uses the metaphor of Lily being Mary’s “home” to make her feel stable and grounded, which is justified when Lily says she is able to close her eyes and