The Secret Life of Bees - Characters in Relation to a Bee Hive Essay Example
In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, the female community and the roles in a colony of honeybees go hand in hand in completing the underlying theme that assists the plot’s development. The characters throughout the novel present many parallels to the novel’s main symbol: bees. The aspects of a colony and how every bee, each with a different job works together for a common goal or purpose, reflects significantly on the plot and on the main characters. The symbol of bees is related to many extremely significant themes in the novel such as the power of the female community, and the need for a mother. The jobs of bees in a colony directly relate to and draw parallels to the main characters in the story and the strength of the female community. The brood or baby bee, the worker bees, and the Queen bee are all important roles within a hive of bees just as each different role is important within a household or community.
Coming of age in an imperative theme within the plot. A brood or a baby bee characterizes initial innocence and growing up. Lily Owens, the antagonist of the novel, is on a journey of self-discovery, which is comparable to a baby bee in a colony learning its place in the hive. In her growing up, Lily learns important lessons, which help her in the coming-of-age process. Not only is Lily on a journey mentally but she is also on a voyage to find out if her mother truly left her when she was young. Finding out the truth was quite possibly the hardest part of Lily’s journey: “Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lie for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now” (Monk Kidd 256). When she finds out the truth, although the insightfulness exemplified demonstrates her increasing maturity,
Coming of age in an imperative theme within the plot. A brood or a baby bee characterizes initial innocence and growing up. Lily Owens, the antagonist of the novel, is on a journey of self-discovery, which is comparable to a baby bee in a colony learning its place in the hive. In her growing up, Lily learns important lessons, which help her in the coming-of-age process. Not only is Lily on a journey mentally but she is also on a voyage to find out if her mother truly left her when she was young. Finding out the truth was quite possibly the hardest part of Lily’s journey: “Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lie for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now” (Monk Kidd 256). When she finds out the truth, although the insightfulness exemplified demonstrates her increasing maturity,