Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

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Pages: 6

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is a story about a 14 year old girl, Lily. In attempts to escape from her abusive father and find a true, loving family, she is forced to take on many challenges. Even after finding the Boatwright sisters, she is continuously faced with challenges, some harder than others. Within each challenge, she learns many new things about herself as well as other people. Each challenge has a special connection with a motif, which helps the reader become better connected to the story Throughout The Secret Life of Bees, two major motifs appear. The first motif is rocks, used to symbolize hardship and depression. The second motif is water, bringing about the idea of rebirth and cleansing. Numerous times, these two motifs are seen together as a way to symbolize the cleansing of a sin. Through these motifs, the reader able to gain a better understanding of what the author was thinking. Within the appearance of each one, the atmosphere is changed. When the reader is able to identify a motif, they can begin to process the true meaning of each motif. This helps while reading as each motif brings about another feeling Rocks are known as hard, strong and most of the time, solid. They last centuries, holding down their ground until …show more content…
Rosaleen is unhappy at the fact that Lily ran away just because of what T. Ray said. She expressed this by saying, " You ran off 'cause of what your daddy said about your mother. It didn't have nothing to do with me in jail. And here you got me worrying sick about you running away and getting in trouble over me, and you would've run off anyway. Well ain't it nice of you to fill me in" (53). Lily became so upset she took her stuff and moved to the opposite side of the creek. As she sat there alone, she thought, "We stared across the water at each other. In the dark, she looked like a boulder shaped by five hundred years of storms"