The Secret Life of Bees by Monk Kidd narrates the account of a 14-year-old girl who was brought up by an abusive father; her life is shaped around the blurred memory of her mother’s death. This search for the past is founded on the belief that this knowledge will help in creating her own identity. The story portrays a young and naïve character who starts her self-discovery path while being supported by her African American nanny. Their encounter with the bee-keeping sisters further acts as a factor that pushes Lily towards her actualization (Akrib et al., 2017). Through this story, Kidd identifies the struggles of the main character, Lily, and the racial discrimination that the other African American characters, such as Rosaleen, face. In this process, Lily is surrounded by strong black women who provide a sense of motherly support that she did not possess (Rahil, 2017). Through the application of the feminist theory, Kidd reveals what Lily needs to develop as a character is a community of strong women who provide her with the support that she needs.
The feminist theory includes a range of ideas that present new ways of addressing issues while emphasizing the replacement of the dominant patriarchal structure with a system that focuses on the equality of rights and justice for both genders. It is essential to assess the impact that each of these women has on Lily's life, along with the importance of gender in the book to understand the application of feminism in the book. Kidd establishes a matriarchal world of influence while providing the male characters with a very small role in Lily’s development (Lofflin, 2009).
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At the center of Lily's identity struggles is her memory of how she killed her mother while fighting with her abusive father. As a child, Lily not only had to struggle with a highly abusive father but also with the need to understand the identity of her mother and her love for her. Lily's discovery journey is a slow and painful process that turns her from a teenager with emotional struggles to a developed young woman. In her childhood home, Kidd becomes accustomed to verbal, physical, and psychological abuse from her father (Akrib et al., 2017). Instances of this are visible when he makes her kneel on Martha White grits or fails to permit her to read while working in the peach stand. He refuses to let her read with the fear that it may “stir up ideas of college…waste of money” for women, despite her scores being “the highest number a human being can get on their verbal aptitude test” (Kidd, 2003, p. 15).
Rosaleen acts as a motherly figure to Lily and is described as having a heart that is "more tender than a flower skin" and standing up to Lily's father to depend on her (Kidd, 2003, p. 11). Hence, Rosaleen is demonstrated as a protector, an individual that provides Lily with a safe environment that she desperately needs for emotional growth. When Rosaleen finds Lily battered knees after her husband physically punishes her, she becomes upset and attempts to console her. Her recognition of T-Ray's abuse validates Lily's feelings of self-worth and pushes her towards her journey in search of freedom (Rahil, 2017). Rosaleen pushes Lily to identify her father's abusive traits to facilitate the development of a willingness to verbalize her opinions and defend her choices.
Once Rosaleen supports Lily to arrive at safety, they then meet with August and her sisters June and May, who would further assist her in discovering essential aspects of her identity. May teaches Lily some essential lessons concerning life and how to find happiness in the small details of life. Lily enjoys singing the honey song with May as it is silly and gives her the feeling that she is a normal person once more (Kidd, 2003, p. 89).
August, who is the oldest of the bee-keeping sisters, takes Rosaleen and Lily into their home and provides them with love and self-belonging (Kidd, 2003). She presents a level of warmth and nurturing that Lily needs for her self-actualization. August also provides Lily with the example of a highly successful woman, as is seen by her honey-making skills and her ability to cater to all of Lily's needs. August constantly identifies Lily's value and provides an immediate source of comfort that Lily needed. In Kidd’s matriarchal structure, Lily is able to move beyond the boundaries of her father’s abusive home to an environment that helps to develop her independent spirit through several life experiences (Rahil, 2017). August also teachers Lily all that she needs to know concerning bee-keeping. On her first expedition to the beehives, she identifies that "if this was a man’s world, a veil took the rough beard right off it” in reference to the softening effect that the veil had” (Kidd, 2003, p. 92).
In The Secret Life of Bees , Kidd identifies the substantial feminist power and its effect on each other through Lily's developmental story. Through the nurturing spirit of the women in the pink house, Kidd emphasizes the importance of mentors to the development of young women. Through the relationships with women surrounding her, Lily gains the capability of coping with the abandonment of her mother and the abuse she experiences due to her father's abuse. Through the strong matriarchal structure around her, Lily is able to develop into a young woman that understands her past and has her own established identity.
References
Akrib, K., & Benia, S. (2017). The Feminine Divine: The Black Madonna in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (Doctoral dissertation).
Kidd, S. M. (2003). The secret life of bees . Penguin.
Lofflin, J. M. (2009). American Freedom Story: a journey from" Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" to the" Secret Life of Bees" (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas).
Rahil, H. (2017). The Politics of Female Empowerment in Toni Morrison's" Paradise" and Sue Monk Kidd's" The Secret Life of Bees" (Doctoral dissertation, Yarmouk University).
