There are five ways to say love in the Greek language. A way for each type of love: friendship love, brotherly love, and passionate love. The English language has one word. With so many different ways to take just one word, people can take it the wrong way. The Secret Life of Bees teaches the reader that you don't need to be family to love someone. Love can come in many different forms, but true love comes because of who you are - not who you pretend to be.
When a girl loses her mom, she loses the one she trusts most. Lily took the loss of her mom harshly, and could never give up the fact that she was the one that pulled the trigger. She could never forgive herself, or her mom, since her mom had left her originally and had come back to get Lily. When the bees came to Lily's room, Lily finally realized that she needed to get out of Sylvan, and go find out more about her mother's past. She took Rosaleen with her, similar to a story where Huckleberry Finn left his abusive father with a runaway slave. One of the things Lily still had of her mother was a picture of Black Mary, and on the back it said "Tiburon, S.C." Lily decided to go there to try and find more things about her mom. Ironically enough, she finds the family that took care of her mom, Deborah. They live on a bee farm, and take her and Rosaleen in.
Tiburon teaches Lily all about herself; not only about her past, but also who she is as a person. Being with August relaxes Lily, and she is nice enough to let Lily stay and figure everything out. August loves Lily almost as a daughter, just like she had loved her mother before she was killed. Lily telling stories and making up her whole life all over again is questionable, but August, May, and June ignore the fact and figure Lily out on their own pace, as they let her become part of their family. This book took place in the 1960's, a time where racists were all over the place, and there were separate schools for white kids and black kids. Sue Monk Kidd is sending a message; she's saying that love isn't force, it's just there. During this time, if someone heard that a white teenage girl was staying with four black women, they would protest, complain, and take her away from the women. By writing this book, the author teaches the reader the true meaning of love.
The Virgin Mary is supposedly the mother of thousands, when she is a virgin. Now technically, that is not possible. Being a mother to someone doesn't always mean giving birth to them. Someone you have no relation to at all can be almost like a mother to you because of how much love they have for you, and how much they care for you. A queen bee is a literal symbol of the Virgin Mary, since she is the mother of thousands, but I believe that August is almost like the Black Mary. She may not be a mother to thousands, but she is a mother to many people. August was the most mature one in the May situation, and also was the one who ran the house, cared for everyone, and was the leader of the Daughters of Mary. August was full of passion and devotion to what she did, but when it came to someone she loved, she would give up anything to make sure that person was happy. She was a true mother to many people.
Sue Monk Kidd used loads of symbolism in this book. One major symbol was bees. Bees represent
thinks weak physically, but strong willed. In a way, bees represent Deborah, Lily's mother. Deborah had gotten into an cruel relationship with T-Ray, and being the female and have less power than the other, she was physically weak. But, when Deborah finally gathered up the courage to leave T-Ray, that showed that she was strong willed. Once Deborah had died, Lily was all alone with T-Ray, and also had a abusive relationship with him. Bees also represent communication with the dead, and the bees that had crept into Lily's room were her mother trying to communicate. Lily trapped the bees in the jar, just like how T-Ray had trapped her inside their farm. Then, she let them go, and they stayed for a little bit. Finally they left, telling her to leave the farm just like they had. Lily didn't realize that the bees had helped her run away, but they really did.
Love can't be forced, it just comes naturally. You know that you don't truly love someone when you feel forced to love them. Loving the Boatwright sisters was so easy for Lily, unlike how it was with T-Ray. That's why it was so easy to stay at the bright pink house than to go back to Sylvan, where everyday she had to deal with the fact that her mother was gone, and her father didn't love her. Throughout the good and the bad, Lily found that the people that truly love her will always stay by her side.
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