Literary Analysis

Symbolism:

Bees:  When Lily captures the bees in her room one escapes from the jar, which represents Lily’s escape from her father’s grasp; the ways the behavior of bees relates to the real world which August explains to Lily (bee etiquette), also present when she thinks she hears her mother’s voice say, “Lily your jar is open.” Representing Lily’s discovery of freedom from escaping from her father; "Bees have a secret life we don't know about." (August B.) & "...the world is really one big bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places: Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you.”

Black Mary statue:  The statue of Black Mary represents female power and independence; “They called her Our Lady of Chains because she broke them.”

The Wailing Wall:  The wailing wall is representing all of the pain and fear in the world that is being felt by whoever decides to use it, usually May; “I felt somebody should personally thank every rock out there for the human misery is had absorbed.

Motifs:

·        Mary: August helps Lily realize her own power and independence through the Black Mary statue and their faith; "When you're unsure of yourself...when you start pulling back into doubt and small living, she's the one inside saying, 'Get up from there and live like the glorious girl you are.'  She's the power inside you, you understand?  And whatever it is that keeps widening your heart, that's Mary, too, not only the power inside you but the love.  And when you get down to it, Lily, that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life.  Not just to love--but to PERSIST in love." 

·        Anger: Anger is a very recurrent motif in this novel especially when it comes to T. Ray speaking and when Lily is thinking about her mother leaving her. June gets angry whenever she thinks about August being a maid for Deborah and Zachary feels anger when he thinks about racist people; “Sometimes, Lily, I’m so angry I wanna kill something.”

·        Struggle and suffering: this motif is prominent because each character feels their own type of suffering and faces their own struggles whether it be from racial tensions, grief, or sadness; “I’m tired of carrying around the weight of the world. I’m just going to lay it down now. It’s my time to die, and it’s your time to live. Don’t mess it up.”

·        Racism: one of the main motifs of this novel is racism because of the setting. It is also crucial to the novel because of Lily’s new life with the Boatwright sisters who are African American feel the impact of racial tension in the South; “In Sylvan we’d had a rumor at the first of the summer about a busload of people from New York City showing up to integrate the city pool. Talk about panic. We had a citywide emergency on our hands, as there is no greater affliction for the southern mind than people up north coming down to fix our way of life.”

·        Spirituality/Religion: religion is an important subject of this novel. Lily is introduced to the Boatwright’s modified Catholicism and she doesn’t quite understand it because she was raised in a Baptist church. It is also an important motif because the Daughters of Mary are centered on the religion June and August have come up with that incorporates their black Mary statue; “I live in the hive of darkness, and you are my mother, I told her, you are the mother of thousands.” (Lily speaking to the black Mary statue)

·        Death: this motif is prominent in the novel because it is the most important subject. Lily’s mother died when she was very young, May dies, June plays music that helps people’s souls pass on, and August tells Lily about what happens when the queen bees die; “Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die we can’t remember who we are, or why we’re here.”

Imagery is used in a very descriptive manner, everything that Lily observes is easy to understand and concise.

Recurring metaphors:

·        Lily’s mother as a roach; “She has roach legs protruding through her clothes, sticking through the cage of her ribs, down her torso, six of them, three on each side.”

Epigraphs:  At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote related to bees or beekeeping.