One of the most evocative symbols in The Secret Life of Bees is the picture (and later the statue) of the black Virgin Mary that the Boatwright family idolizes. As August Boatwright explains, there’s a long tradition of depicting the Virgin Mary as a black woman, despite the fact that most of the pictures Lily Owens has seen show Mary as white. August’s point is that it’s important to develop religious icons that “fit” their intended community, and thus a black community will naturally gravitate toward a Black Virgin Mary. The Black Virgin Mary takes on another meaning toward the end of the novel, when August reveals that the statue of Mary isn’t really a gift from God—on the contrary, it’s an old ship ornament, nothing more. August uses this fact to show that the value of the Virgin Mary imagery isn’t related to its literal appearance; rather, the statue and image are designed to instill a sense of dignity and religious passion within worshippers. In the end, then, the Black Virgin Mary is a symbol of the power of religious community, and of humans’ potential to find knowledge and peace within themselves.
The Black Virgin Mary Quotes in The Secret Life of Bees
“Well, if you ain’t noticed, she’s colored,” said Rosaleen, and I could tell it was having an effect on her by the way she kept gazing at it with her mouth parted. I could read her thought: If Jesus’ mother is black, how come we only know about the white Mary?
“Well, if you ain’t noticed, she’s colored,” said Rosaleen, and I could tell it was having an effect on her by the way she kept gazing at it with her mouth parted. I could read her thought: If Jesus’ mother is black, how come we only know about the white Mary?
The lips on the statue had a beautiful, bossy half smile, the sight of which caused me to move both my hands up to my throat. Everything about that smile said, Lily Owens, I know you down to the core.
“Mary smiled at Beatrix, then led her back to her room and gave her back her nun outfit. You see, Lily, all that time Mary had been standing in for her.”
“Well,” August said, going right on with her pasting, “you know, she’s really just the figurehead off an old ship, but the people needed comfort and rescue, so when they looked at it, they saw Mary, and so the spirit of Mary took it over. Really, her spirit is everywhere, Lily, just everywhere.”
The Black Virgin Mary Symbol Timeline in The Secret Life of Bees
