Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees was the first novel published by Sue Kidd and it received many awards. She was inspired to write this novel due to her experiences of segregation as a kid. While writing the story about a young white girl, Kidd uses many symbols, imagery, and events throughout the novel to describe the segregation between whites and blacks during this time. The reader chose this novel because it was recommended by the librarian and was interested in the history.

This 1964 novel tells the story of a fourteen year old white girl who runs away with her black servant in order to escape her abusive dad and find information on her once living mother. Kidd writes the events in chronological order, is very descriptive, and uses the symbol

The bees continued to symbolize Lily’s happiness throughout the story by relating to her life. The author writes this story using detailed description and imagery in chronological order to organize the events that led to the changing in Lily’s happiness throughout the novel. She describes how miserable Lily is before running away and as August says “We love Lily, and we’ll take care of her…” (Kidd 298). She found herself a new loving home with people who brought her happiness, ignoring the color of their skin. She even fell in love with a black boy, but as stated by Zach “...there are people who would kill boys like me for even looking at girls like you” (Kidd 135). However they ignored the segregation laws since they loved each other and that is what made them happy. The author’s use of description and imagery allowed the reader to imagine the character’s personalities, looks, and setting. One example is when the author describes Lily’s happiness by the river “...the light poured down in shafts, and I wanted it to always be like this…” (Kidd 81). This imagery allows the reader to understand Lily’s personality, setting, and feelings of