Two novels under analysis are peculiar for their plot and main ideas. It is no secret that both The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter fuel the problem of love. However, there is a question to be answered: is love similarly or differently exposed? In this respect one should have a deeper look into the main ideas represented in both books to make an exhausting comparison. Moreover, the realistic picture of life and human relationships in both books should be taken into consideration with points on critical observation of the main details in each. Thus, the books by Sue Monk Kidd and Charles Baxter are similar as of the power of love, but it is referred to different aspects of love as such.
In The Secret Life of Bees the main character Lily is in search of her memories about her dead mother past. She replicates the features of people around putting them through personal understanding. Lily is getting through the process of self-actualization trying to reach the truth out. It is about the search of love. It is about that kind of love which is related to parents love for their children. On the other side, it is an illustrative story about peoples’ dreams to get ahead in coping with others. It is about civil rights and reaching the point in anticipating the problem of ethnical minorities living in America. It is all about human love which grows into a peace and understanding within the society. Lily seeks to maintain the truth which was once provoked by her letting hear the line of a song: “Baby, baby, where did our love go” (Kidd, p. 50)? Her trip with Rosaleen, a black woman, is something that shakes ordinary American imagination of social equality in between social majority and minorities 1960s. The story is in part a feministic as it is focused mainly on female characters. However, it makes also an emphasis on keeping love as applied to gender equality in the American society.
The Feast of Love is more related to the passionate love. It is about the holistic properties of love which are exemplified throughout life. The novel provides a representation of fierce love that splashes between two people. It is rich in the rumination over the gist of love when it takes place between a man and a woman. Here one sees the importance of memories which connect the main character with the sweet moments of falling in love with women. It is especially described in a remarkable speculation on the example with Kathryn: “Humane Society and I knew that it had seen us, Kathryn and me, two people in love walking up and down between the cages and holding each other” (Baxter, p. 17). Further still, the story is a replication of Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespear. Thus, it provides the Shakespearean language of love which deals with passion and fierce intentions of humans to gain momentum of loving somebody. It is also based on dreams and memories of the protagonist as in case with The Secret Life of Bees.
Thus, the theme of love is obvious in both books. It is similar represented according to how the main characters imagine it and how they experienced it actually. However, in Kidd’s interprpetation it is more about love which pertains to peaceful relationships within the society while in Baxter’s case it is all about the sexuality and passion overwhelming men and women.
Works Cited
- Baxter, Charles. The Feast of Love. Ladson, SC: Vintage, 2001.
- Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. New York, NY: Penguin, 2008.