How Does Sue Monk Kidd Use The Epigraph In The Secret Life Of Bees

Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Secret Life of Bees has an epigraph in every chapter that parallels the events in the story. In Chapter 14 the epigraph says, “A queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community; there may be a mournful wail or lament from within. Without intervention, the colony will die. But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place. - The Queen Must Die; And Other Affairs of Bees and Men” ( Kidd 277 ). The epigraph in Chapter 14 is related to the chapter because it parallels Lily’s adventures and role in the story. The queenless colony the epigraph mentions is talking about the absence of Lily’s mother and how it affects the characters in the story. A mournful wail is a metaphor to the guilt she feels because she is responsible for her mother’s passing. Lily keeps these feelings of remorse and guilt kept inside for a majority of her childhood. Lily has been trying to find a new life, and she does this by becoming the new queen, finally having control of her life.
In the beginning of the story the reader learns that Lily accidently killed her

In Chapter 13, Lily learns that her mother indeed ran away from the both of them to August’s home and she’s given proof of this because she’s given some things that were in her possession. Lily becomes angry because most of her life she has had to live with the guilt of killing her own mother. She becomes hopeless, and it shows when she says “I drew into myself and stayed there for a while… I spent most of my time down by the river, alone. I just wanted to keep to myself” ( Kidd 277 ). Lily contemplates whether she should forgive her mother for leaving, whether her mother even loved her in the first place. She calls herself “the girl abandoned by her mother… the girl who kneeled on grits” ( Kidd 278 ). These events cause her to finally let go of her mother and live her life without guilt taking