Symbols in Secret Life of Bees
1. What are some of the ways that bees serve as symbols in Lily's life?
Answer:
Bees symbolize Lily's mother in a number of instances throughout the novel. In Sylvan, Lily feels her mother's presence when swarms of bees enter her room. Her mother's name, Deborah, literally translates as "bee." She follows the path of her mother to Tiburon and finds herself on a honey farm. Bees model human society. Once Lily begins her beekeeper training with August, she quickly learns the ways in which a beehive models the human world. Lily learns to send the bees love, to act like she knows what she's doing, and to avoid angry outbursts--all reasonably good lessons for life. Bees, like Lily, need a queen or a mother figure in order to function. At the beginning of the novel, Lily uses the memory of her mother as this figure. Lily sometimes depends on Rosaleen to fulfill this role, and once in Tiburon, Lily mainly counts on August. Eventually, she turns to all eight of her Tiburon "mothers" to fulfill this need in her life.
2. Why does Lily feel the need to carry around mouse bones with her?
Answer: Lily finds the mouse bones under her bed when she is storing her mother's belongings. Therefore, Lily makes some odd connection between the mouse bones and the sentimental day on which she learned of her mother's love for her. Lily is in an emotionally heightened state, and she therefore displays some seemingly irrational behavior. After Lily finishes babysitting the mouse bones, she determines that she may have just needed to nurse something. But she might have intuited that the bones could be from a mouse Deborah once saw. In addition, the bones could symbolize Deborah's dead body.
3. How does Lily's idea of a mother change throughout the novel?
Answer: In the beginning of the novel, Lily associates the idea of "mother" only with a legal and biological connection between a woman and her child. She displays this definition when she dreams of Rosaleen adopting her and becoming
Answer:
Bees symbolize Lily's mother in a number of instances throughout the novel. In Sylvan, Lily feels her mother's presence when swarms of bees enter her room. Her mother's name, Deborah, literally translates as "bee." She follows the path of her mother to Tiburon and finds herself on a honey farm. Bees model human society. Once Lily begins her beekeeper training with August, she quickly learns the ways in which a beehive models the human world. Lily learns to send the bees love, to act like she knows what she's doing, and to avoid angry outbursts--all reasonably good lessons for life. Bees, like Lily, need a queen or a mother figure in order to function. At the beginning of the novel, Lily uses the memory of her mother as this figure. Lily sometimes depends on Rosaleen to fulfill this role, and once in Tiburon, Lily mainly counts on August. Eventually, she turns to all eight of her Tiburon "mothers" to fulfill this need in her life.
2. Why does Lily feel the need to carry around mouse bones with her?
Answer: Lily finds the mouse bones under her bed when she is storing her mother's belongings. Therefore, Lily makes some odd connection between the mouse bones and the sentimental day on which she learned of her mother's love for her. Lily is in an emotionally heightened state, and she therefore displays some seemingly irrational behavior. After Lily finishes babysitting the mouse bones, she determines that she may have just needed to nurse something. But she might have intuited that the bones could be from a mouse Deborah once saw. In addition, the bones could symbolize Deborah's dead body.
3. How does Lily's idea of a mother change throughout the novel?
Answer: In the beginning of the novel, Lily associates the idea of "mother" only with a legal and biological connection between a woman and her child. She displays this definition when she dreams of Rosaleen adopting her and becoming