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Secret Life Of Bees Symbolism

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Symbolism is the subtext in everyday life that connects us to other people, places, and things that contain deeper meanings. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explains how the main the main character, Lily, has been going through her life and the many obstacles that come along with it. Through the book, many objects help symbolize things from her past or things she is starting to connect with, not just bees. Sue Monk Kidd mostly uses the bees in the The Secret Life of Bees to represent guidance, some of the characters’ roles in Lily’s life, and society in general. The symbols of the bees help Kidd convey the theme that one must rely on her “hive” in order to make it through life. Guidance was continuously shown throughout …show more content…
Bees aren’t the only thing in the novel showing symbolization. In The Secret Life of Bees, there are many things that connect to Lily’s life or that symbolize something into further detail. The Black Madonna was not only the queen bee of the hive, but symbolized the strength of women to Lily. The Black Madonna “becomes a way to recognize that everyone can have a divinity that reflects who they are and that addresses concerns specific to their situations” (CITE). In the novel August implies that “the statue of the Black Madonna is a symbol of what is inside everyone”(CITE). The color blue is also something important to Lily and shows symbolism. The color blue is Lily’s favorite color. This shows importance when Lily calls T.Ray and asks if he know what her favorite color is. T.Ray doesn’t know the answer is blue then yells then hangs ups on Lily. This proves to Lily that leaving the house the was right thing to for her and her future. Blue is also the traditional color of the Virgin Mary who Lily looks up to. The color “blue is known to have a strong and maternal figure” (CITE), like Lily. There is a stone wall in the novel. This comes into play because whenever May hears something tragic she writes it on a piece of paper and slips the paper into the cracks into the stone wall. The stone wall symbolizes slow and sad accumulation of pain and stands for the horrors of the African American experience in America. There are many things that relate and symbolize each other in the

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