Literary Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Bees

Literary Analysis

Sue Monk Kidd’s first novel The Secret Life of Bees was a literary success. Although, Sue didn’t just get successful on luck all of the sudden. In the Secret Life of Bees, Sue brought together many elements in order to complete her novel. Some elements include Sue's input of Southern Style Language, the aspects of the main character Lily's voice, and the inclusion of imagery.

One crucial element contributed is Sue's style of writing. In the Secret Life of Bees Sue not only sets the novel in South Carolina during the time period of desegregation but she incorporates the southern voice in her writing too. Sue does this in a way of including terms such as “yankee” and “fella” to give the reader a feel of an everyday southern life. For example, “…I thought of that policeman, Eddie Hazelwurst, saying I'd lowered myself to be in this house of colored women, and for the very life of me I couldn't understand how it had turned out this way, how colored women had become the lowest ones on the totem pole. You only had to look at them to see how special they were, like hidden royalty among us. Eddie Hazelwurst. What a shitbucket” (Kidd 147). This quote shows the southern voice Sue puts into each and every one of her characters.

Another element included in the Secret Life of Bees is Sue's input on the main character Lily's voice. The narration of Lily covers from humorous to dramatic language. The versatility in Lily's voice is astonishing; Sue is able to cover many aspects and adds additional elements to her tone. Also, Sue often pertains to Lily’s emotive language, emphasizing its power and emotional aspect in-order to speak through the text to the reader. An example of Lily's humorous/lovely voice is, "He bent his face ...

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...riting even more. For example “I watched their wings shining like bits of chrome in the dark and felt the longing in my chest. The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower ,just flying for the feel of wind ,split my heart down its seam" (Kidd 1). This quote is a perfect example of imagery used in the Secret Life of Bees because you can imagine how the character is feeling and what the character is seeing. It is described so vividly it’s like the readers can here the bees buzzing in their ears.

In the end these three elements contributed highly in creating The Secret Life of Bees. Without them Sue Monk Kidd might not have created the novel as greatly. Sue Monk Kidd brought together the Southern Style Language, the aspects of the main character Lily's voice, and the inclusion of imagery in order to create the amazingly written novel, The Secret Life of Bees.