The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

In today’s world, people often make decisions without analyzing the reasons behind their choices. Because of this, people tend to overlook the key factors that helped them make their often life-changing decision. Although this may not be a bad thing, it certainly aids in contributing to the outcome of people’s lives. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, is an expert at depicting concepts that may influence individuals to make certain decisions. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, throughout her transformative journey, the main character, Lily Owens, is motivated by the concept of bees. For instance, bees are associated with a theme of being mother figures during Lily’s journey. Similarly, she uses bees as analogies to help her understand ordinary
For example, Lily’s visions of honeybees calm her down just as a mother would. Lily feels so strongly about her visions, that “At night [she] would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of [her] bedroom wall and flew circles around the room…[she] wants to say the bees were sent to [her]” (Kidd 1-2). Lily sees bees flying into her room and making a show when in reality they are depicted as being figments of her imagination. To Lily, seeing animals represents her mother because her mother was very gentle with all creatures. Because of this, Lily’s visions of bees is her way of communicating with her mother, who died when she was a young child. In addition, the bees are Lily’s way of soothing herself when she is feeling down, by reminding her of her mother. To add on, no one else in the novel seems to be able to see the bees, so it is as if Lily has a secret language that she shares with her mother through the bees in her imagination. As well, by saying that the bees were sent to her, she is acknowledging the fact that her journey began when honeybees started to visit her in her
When Lily arrived at Tiburon, she, “found [herself] looking at a picture of the black Mary… exact one as [her] mother’s. She stared at [Lily] from the labels of a dozen jars of honey. Black Madonna Honey, they said” (Kidd 63). Although bees did not exactly tell her to go to the town, the picture of the black woman was printed on honey jars, which are a part of bees. In a sense, the bees are sending Lily signals by appealing to her fondness of bees and of her mother’s belongings. If it were not for her mother’s picture of the black woman, Lily would have overlooked the honey jars in the store and would have never found the place where her mother had been referring to in the picture. In addition, the concept of the bees led Lily and Rosaleen to a sheltered home, which can be seen as a blessing brought on by Lily’s curiosity. In the end, the black Mary picture from the honey jars is one of the main reasons that pushed her to leave her house and begin her