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Significance of symbolism in literature
Significance of symbolism in literature
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My house is made up of yellow and white limestone. My friend Jane's is bright red brick. If you were to ask me what the color of her house means to me... I would say an easy way to identify this house. In my opinion, the color of someones house is just not a way to detect anything from her personality. It is simply put, the color of her house. What if I were to tell you that that red was a symbol of love? That the reason it was red brick was because Jane's parents loved each other so much they decided to express the love in the color of their house just to remind them of the love they share? Seems a little outlandish but at the same time seems extremely normal. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, showed us very well, by including quotes from other books and through her text, principles that should be carried with us throughout our life.
The character development
in this book was very good. Through the first couple of pages I found out about Lily and her thoughts. Eventually I learned about Rosaleen and when she drips the snuff juice on the shoes of the older white men when the harrass her for voting. At first she seemed to not really care much for Lily but in the end, I thought of her as a more motherly figure for her, she seemed like the strong type of mother, the one who fights for the rights of he children. When the two eventually get to Tiburon, they meet August, June and May. August Boatwright, is obviously the eldest of the trio, she witholds much of the power in the household and is the one everyone looks up to. By the end of the book I saw her as more of the ever-loving motherly type. Ms. June Boatwright automatically has a resentment towards Lily and the two seem to clash in Lily's thoughts. When we find out in the end why that is, you see it's because she is another strong-willed black woman. June would be the type of mother I could see urging you to stand up to the bully in your classroom. May, the fun and entergetic one of the bunch seems just like the sweetest lady you've ever meet. You wouldn't want to bring up anything that would upset her as the slightest thing could send her to her wailing wall (the wall she made to cry and store her prayers in).
Everyone has a secret life that they keep hidden from the rest of the world. Lies are told on a daily basis in order to keep these lives stashed in the dark. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, the bees are the ones that have the most secret life of all. They each have their own specific role to play deep within the hive. It's obvious that the author had meant for some of her characters to portray the roles that these buzzing insects have to dutifully fulfill every duty. Lily and Zach are the field bees, August is a nurse bee, and the Lady of Chains is the Queen bee.
1) The major theme of the book is respectability. In the 1950 's Rosa Parks became the symbol for black female resistance in the
The book had a few characters that I liked, but a lot of characters that I disliked. For example Yasmine was a character that I disliked. I didn’t like her because she brought pain to Paige’s life. Yasmine and Paige were best friends for months in Sixth grade. They were constantly doing fun activities together, like having sleepovers or planning each other’s birthday parties, but all that was ruined by a mistake Yasmine made. Paige and Yasmine were at a school dance, when
Lily’s idea of home is having loving parent/mother figures who can help guide her in life. Because of this desire, she leaves T. Ray and begins to search for her true identity. This quest for acceptance leads her to meet the Calendar Sisters. This “home” that she finds brightly displays the ideas of identity and feminine society. Though Lily could not find these attributes with T. Ray at the peach house, she eventually learns the truth behind her identity at the pink house, where she discovers the locus of identity that resides within herself and among the feminine community there. Just like in any coming-of-age story, Lily uncovers the true meaning of womanhood and her true self, allowing her to blossom among the feminine influence that surrounds her at the pink house. Lily finds acceptance among the Daughters of Mary, highlighting the larger meaning of acceptance and identity in the novel.
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
“I’d been kneeling on grits since I was six, but still I never got used to that powdered-glass feeling beneath my skin,” (Kidd 24). In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens has a difficult childhood living with her ruthless father on a peach farm in South Carolina. Additionally, Lily has never escaped her terrifying past that she experienced when she was a little girl, the experience of killing her mother. Thus, throughout her life Lily’s only mother figure has been a fearless colored woman named Rosaleen. Eventually trouble arises, and Lily and Rosaleen flee to Tiburon, South Carolina, a city on the back of Lily's mom’s things, in search of a loving family. In Tiburon, they were unexpectedly accepted in by the Boatwright sisters, who are colored beekeepers. After losing her mother, internal remorse, dishonesty, and remission will allow Lily to see what she is missing most in her life. In The Secret Life of Bees, the symbols Tiburon, Mary , and the Queen Bee allows the reader to discover the theme of finding love in unexpected places with unexpected people.
Experiencing a tragedy at a young age causes many problems as that individual grows up. The most common effects are changes in usual behavior, episodes of crying or sadness, and suicidal thoughts. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, the death of a close sibling causes two characters to act out and experience these effects.
In the novel “The Secret Life of Bees”, which is surprisingly not an informative book talking about bees, the main character Lily Owens is set out to be the victim because of her parents. The novel first tells the reader that Lily accidently kills her mother when she was a toddler, and goes on to explaining how her father, whom she calls T-Ray, is an abusive man. He punishes Lily very often in many ways, like making her kneel in grits and speaking to her in an offensive manner. We later find out that Lily’s mother, Deborah, suffers from depression, partly because of the dominance coming from T-Ray, and learn the harsh truth of her leaving Lily. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, gives the vision of T-Ray being a bad father and Deborah being an ethical
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a realistic fiction novel that tells the story of Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl living in South Carolina, in 1964 with her father; T. Raye, and her housekeeper, Rosaleen. Lily and Rosalyn get into an argument with a couple white men. Rosaleen pours her chew on one of the white men because of their obscure comments. Times being how they were in 1964 Rosaleen was put in jail for spitting on a white man. Lily decides she needs to break Rosaleen out. I will present to you the main character’s personality, the main idea of this novel, and how I personally related to the main character.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is the story of a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily, who runs away from her abusive father with her housekeeper to the town that her late mother had once been to. There, she meets August and the Boatwright sisters, who live in a bright pink house and own a bee farm. These women teach her all about life through bees and the black Mary statue that is kept in their house. Lily comes from a rough situation, surrounded by negativity, but the sisters take her in and teach her what family and love is. Although living in a world where, for her, love is scarce, Lily is able to learn from the all negatives in her life, which then turn into positives, and Lily is a better person because of what she learned.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
Another motherly figure in Lily?s life is August. She encourages Lily to open her heart and reveal the truth to them. August is very patient and would make a great mother. Even though she knew that Lily was lying to her, she gave Lily a chance to settle down. In doing this she was wise. If she had confronted Lily, Lily probably would have left the house. Unlike June even though Lily was white she still treated her regularly.
The story follows three girls- Jeanette, the oldest in the pack, Claudette, the narrator and middle child, and the youngest, Mirabella- as they go through the various stages of becoming civilized people. Each girl is an example of the different reactions to being placed in an unfamiliar environment and retrained. Jeanette adapts quickly, becoming the first in the pack to assimilate to the new way of life. She accepts her education and rejects her previous life with few relapses. Claudette understands the education being presented to her but resists adapting fully, her hatred turning into apathy as she quietly accepts her fate. Mirabella either does not comprehend her education, or fully ignores it, as she continually breaks the rules and boundaries set around her, eventually resulting in her removal from the school.
Grief leaves an imprint on those who experience it. Some can survive its deep sorrow, others cannot. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, she explores the effect of grief on the main characters. The novel opens with fourteen-year-old Lily Owns struggling with the knowledge that her mother was dead because she, as an infant, picked up a loaded gun and accidentally shot her. She runs away from her abusive father in search for answers of who her mother was. Lily hitchhikes to Tiburon, South Carolina; the location written on the back of an image of the Black Madonna – one of the only belongings she has of her mother’s. There, she finds a pink house inhabited by the Boatwright sisters who are African American women making Black Madonna honey. The Boatwright sisters have had their share of grief with the death of two of their sisters and the racial intolerance they face despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The Boatwright sisters and Lily Owens have different methods of coping with grief; internalizing, ignoring, and forgetting are some of the ways they cope, with varying degrees of success. They discover that they must live past their grief, or else it will tear them apart.
The Secret Life of Bees delineates an inspirational story in which the 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 discover the cause of her mothers death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, which leads their maid, Rosaleen, to act as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen run away to Tiburon, South Carolina and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, including many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores a theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for home as well as a maternal figure.