“Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.”
As she explains the nature of spirituality
as it relates to beehives, August speaks these words to Lily in
chapter
The fact that Lily is a white girl living with black women, a runaway, and a criminal of sorts, means her life with August must remain a secret—just like the secret life of the bees that goes on inside the hive. In this way, the motherhood Lily believes Mary offers her is parallel to the support and love she gets from August and her community of women, a support that is secret to the world but that nourishes her and keeps her alive. The secret life that bees have is similar to the secret life of Lily Owens. Lily learns about the bees’ secrets from August, while we learn about Lily’s secrets from her first-person narration. Just as the bees produce the sweet honey that August is so attached to, Lily creates a bittersweet coming-of-age story about a young girl who finds strength, love, and family in unlikely circumstances.