Essay Topic 5
While many stories we have read in this class have a protagonist who goes through an extensive evolution as a character, or lack there of, none really go through such drastic changes as Lily Owens, the protagonist and main character in the legendary novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily’s life takes many unexpected and exciting turns, but in the end, returns to where it originally began, surrounded by bees. Towards the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Lily lives without a mother figure, but rather with her horribly abusive father, T. Ray. Lily’s childhood is filled of memories of her being forced to act as a mother figure for the children of the house, as well as poor living conditions: “At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high pitched zzzzz that hummed along my skin” (Kidd, pg 1). Thus, early in her life, Lily has no mother and is forced into a terrible living situation.
Lily then finds a mother figure of sorts when a woman named Rosaleen takes her in. Rosaleen and Lily escape their hometown and go to Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily attempts to learn the truth about her mother’s past and hopes to finally find some stability in her life. In the small town of Tiburon, Rosaleen and Lily end up living with a trio of black-beekeeping sisters, a trait and skill that is eventually intended for Lily. Once again the theme of bees comes up in Lily’s life, as she goes from her childhood house where the bees run loose, to a house where the black sisters keep the bees in control. However, from the beginning of her life, up until this point in the story, and through to the end, Lily’s entire life revolves around her search for a stable mother figure.
Sue Monk Kidd acknowledges Lily’s lifelong pursuit for family in an interview conducted on her official website, where she states she wanted to tell the story of a girl who grows throughout the story as she searches for security and a woman role model: “I knew there was a less tangible, more symbolic search for home and mother that needed to take place: a coming home to herself and the discovery of the mother within” (Kidd, website pg. 1). Furthermore, Sue Monk Kidd states that throughout the story, she wanted the character to develop in a drastic manner that requires Lily to find a power she was not even aware she had: “I knew Lily would have to find an undreamed of strength, and that she would do it the same way the powerful black women around her did it – through the empowerment of a divine feminine presence, in this case a Black Mary” (Kidd, website pg. 1). While Lily’s life is filled with tragedy, this “Black Mary” Kidd references is August, the bee-keeping sister with which Lily bonds the most. August becomes a surrogate mother figure and, after being born into an abusive home, in the end Lily returns to her mother’s home where she finds peace, in addition to a loving and accepting family structure.
Works Cited
Kidd, Sue Monk. “Reflections on: The Secret Life of Bees.” The Monk Kidd: Sue Monk Kidd. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010.
- - -. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2003. Print. The text book.
No comments:
Post a Comment