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Essay / Lily Owens' Spiritual Growth in The Secret Life...
The Secret Life of Bees depicts an inspiring story in which community, friendship, and faith guide the human spirit to overcome anything. The story follows Lily Owens, a 14-year-old girl who desperately wants to find out the cause of her mother's death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, leading their maid, Rosaleen, to serve as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen escape to Tiburon, South Carolina, and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores the theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for a home as well as a mother figure. Bees symbolize Lily's unspoken guides throughout the novel. Kidd's constant reference to bees indicates that Lily comes to understand the importance of female power in the bee community, which she connects to her own life. When Lily first sees the bees in her room, Rosaleen warns her that they may sting her if she tries to catch them, but Lily ignores her and continues trapping them, thus affirming her determination. Later, the bees reveal to Lily the message that she should leave her father. Kidd notes that a bee landed on Lily's state map that she kept pinned on the wall, foreshadowing Lily and Rosaleen's trip to Tiburon (10). The bees also symbolize the secret life Lily leads as she hides her secret of running away from home. The hive represents society while the bees represent all the humans within it. August tells Lily about the hives and announces, “Most people have no idea of all the complicated life that goes on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life that we know nothing about” (Kidd 148). The hive cannot overhang...... middle of paper ......614&v=2.1&u=land18748&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=e367f8026fdb5ac19a609bfe31d5e3a4>.Ruth, Elizabeth. “The Secret Life of Bees charts the growth of Lily’s social consciousness.” Coming of age in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2013. 63-65. Print. Social problems in literature. Rep. from “The Secret Life of Bees”. The Globe and Mail March 2, 2002: n. pag.Scott, AO “A golden spoonful of motherly comfort.” » New York Times. Np, and Web. May 1, 2014. .Zaleski, Jeff. “The Secret Life of Bees Review.” Publishers Weekly November 12, 2001: 33. Rpt. in contemporary literary criticism. Detroit: Gale, 2009. N. pag. Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 9. 2014. .