Literary Essay Noor Dijkshoorn, Havo 4D
The importance of maternal love in The Secret Life of Bees
written by Sue Monk Kidd, she powerfully reveals inspiring divine female
power in her famous novel
The book was written from the perspective of the 14-year-old girl Lily Owens.The story
begins when Lily lives at home on a peach farm in South Carolina with her evil father
T. Ray. He loathes her and makes her believe that she accidentally shot her own mother at
the age of four, just as the mother was quickly packing her suitcase to flee from T. Ray.
His daughter Lily always reminds him of his wife, that's why he often damnes and
mistreats her, his wife Deborah has been the only one in his life he truly loved.
Lily feels a great lack of maternal love, help and guidance while growing up, but there
is Rosaleen who makes up for a lot with care and warmth. She is the nanny and
housekeeper Lily’s father hired but whom he ignores completely as a human being, for the
most important reason that she is a black woman. African Americans did not have any
rights in the 1960s and the small rural town in which Lily grew up was a site of intense
racial injustices. Since the beginning, Rosaleen has always been a key mother figure to
Lily through her quality of caring. At the beginning of the story, it is Lily’s fourteenth
birthday, a day T. Ray has completely ignored. Lily is upset and thinks no one really loves
her until she sees Rosaleen “bearing an angel food cake with fourteen candles”, one for
each of her birth years. This act of compassion is obvious portrayal of Rosaleen’s maternal
qualities.
In time, after Rosaleen was prevented from voting by aggressive racists, Lily and she flee
together and end up in Tiburon, South Carolina, where they meet the beekeeping
Boatwright sisters who have a major influence on their development. The two sisters take
Lily and Rosaleen into the house and treat them from the start as if they were family.
Lily’s desire for a mother, and the importance of having a mother, as well as the portrayal
of strong female characters show feminism as a key part of the plot of the novel. The main
plot of the novel centers around Lily’s tremendous longing for her mother and her search
for a woman’s guidance in her life. Throughout the book, Lily speaks of her desire for her
mother’s presence. “That night I lay in bed and thought about dying and going to be with
my mother in paradise”.
Lily states her belief that her mother would have been the best thing for her life at many
points. When Lily stumbles across the Boatwright sisters, she finds a source of motherly
wisdom and feminine guidance in August. August acts almost as a substitute for the
motherly experience Lily has missed all the time, giving Lily instruction and knowledge,
such as “You know, some things don’t matter that much, like the color of a house.
But lifting a person’s heart –now that matters”. August also teaches Lily the importance of
nature and love, and how they relate to society. For example, referring to the bees, August
tells Lily “Every little thing wants to be loved”. Lily finally receives the maternal guidance
and strong female role model she has been searching for, and she enjoys her experience
of feminine ideals.
1/2
The importance of maternal love in The Secret Life of Bees
written by Sue Monk Kidd, she powerfully reveals inspiring divine female
power in her famous novel
The book was written from the perspective of the 14-year-old girl Lily Owens.The story
begins when Lily lives at home on a peach farm in South Carolina with her evil father
T. Ray. He loathes her and makes her believe that she accidentally shot her own mother at
the age of four, just as the mother was quickly packing her suitcase to flee from T. Ray.
His daughter Lily always reminds him of his wife, that's why he often damnes and
mistreats her, his wife Deborah has been the only one in his life he truly loved.
Lily feels a great lack of maternal love, help and guidance while growing up, but there
is Rosaleen who makes up for a lot with care and warmth. She is the nanny and
housekeeper Lily’s father hired but whom he ignores completely as a human being, for the
most important reason that she is a black woman. African Americans did not have any
rights in the 1960s and the small rural town in which Lily grew up was a site of intense
racial injustices. Since the beginning, Rosaleen has always been a key mother figure to
Lily through her quality of caring. At the beginning of the story, it is Lily’s fourteenth
birthday, a day T. Ray has completely ignored. Lily is upset and thinks no one really loves
her until she sees Rosaleen “bearing an angel food cake with fourteen candles”, one for
each of her birth years. This act of compassion is obvious portrayal of Rosaleen’s maternal
qualities.
In time, after Rosaleen was prevented from voting by aggressive racists, Lily and she flee
together and end up in Tiburon, South Carolina, where they meet the beekeeping
Boatwright sisters who have a major influence on their development. The two sisters take
Lily and Rosaleen into the house and treat them from the start as if they were family.
Lily’s desire for a mother, and the importance of having a mother, as well as the portrayal
of strong female characters show feminism as a key part of the plot of the novel. The main
plot of the novel centers around Lily’s tremendous longing for her mother and her search
for a woman’s guidance in her life. Throughout the book, Lily speaks of her desire for her
mother’s presence. “That night I lay in bed and thought about dying and going to be with
my mother in paradise”.
Lily states her belief that her mother would have been the best thing for her life at many
points. When Lily stumbles across the Boatwright sisters, she finds a source of motherly
wisdom and feminine guidance in August. August acts almost as a substitute for the
motherly experience Lily has missed all the time, giving Lily instruction and knowledge,
such as “You know, some things don’t matter that much, like the color of a house.
But lifting a person’s heart –now that matters”. August also teaches Lily the importance of
nature and love, and how they relate to society. For example, referring to the bees, August
tells Lily “Every little thing wants to be loved”. Lily finally receives the maternal guidance
and strong female role model she has been searching for, and she enjoys her experience
of feminine ideals.
1/2
