The Secret Life of Bees Essay Example for Free

The Secret Life of Bees Essay The Secret Life of Bees Monk Kidd  «The Secret Life of Bees » is a historical novel by American author Sue Monk Kidd. It is a story of coming-of-age, of the ability of love to transform our lifes. Adressing the wounds of loss, betrayal and the scarcity of love, Kidd demonstratesthe power of women, coming together to heal those wounds, to mother each other and themselves, to create a new holy place – true family and home. The novel received much critical acclaim and was a New York Times bestseller. In 2005 it was adopted into a film by Ginn Prince-Bythewood. The Secret Life of Bees » is the story of Lily, a fourteen-year-old girl who runs away from her unloving father to search for secrets of her dead mother`s past. The setting of the novel is South Carolina in 1964, a time when racial tensions were inflamed by civil rights movement and white racists`frequently violent responses to it. Against this backdrop, Lily and her house-keeper, Rosalin, find shelter in the home of the eccentric Boatwright sisters, three African American beekeepers who worship before the statue of a Black Madonna they call  «Our Lady in Chains ». There Lily finds love and acceptance and begins to come n terms with the quilt she feels over her mother`s death. Lily has a special relationship with bees. At night, they squeeze through the cracks of her bedroom wall by the hundreds and fly circles around her room until the air itself pulsating with wings. They seem to indicate to Lily where is her right path. Every chapter opens with a short description of he life of bees which is always has a connection with the plot. In the climax of the story the sisters Boatright, the beekeepers, empart to Lily the sectets of the Black Madonna, mother to thousands. T. Ray Owens is the hateful, peach-farming antagonist of the novel, is feeling particularly meen towards Lily. He is a monstrous and abusive father. There is not apparent love in his heart for Lily whatsoever, and living with him only deepens the ubiquitous pain of her motherless existence. Deborah Owens`death is a source of great anguish and mystery for the confused adolescent, a memory from when she was four that she still can`t quite get her head around. Lily`s only true friend is Rosalin, a large black peach-worker who T. Ray brought to the house to care for Lily when her mother died.  «The Secret Life of Bees » is growing-up tale wrapped into a search for one`s mother, plunked down into the racially – charged South Carolina during the Civil rights movement, set alight with feminine spirituality. It is an inspirational feminist tale with strong female characters. And while it has already proven its` mettle as a best-selling novel with universal appeal, it will particularly enchant the female reader.