I found it interesting that no one seems to frown upon the fact that May takes her own life in the book. The characters are very nonchalant about it, just saying things like, oh well, she just couldn’t take the pain anymore. They act as if suicide is a perfectly acceptable means of getting away from the sorrow of the world. June simply says, “’It’s just like April’” when they find her body (194). There’s no remorse about the way that she died, just about the fact that she’s gone. That reaction can send a negative message to young readers of this book who could be influenced by the characters’ reactions to May’s death. Her death could have been a time for one of the characters to say something about how you can’t just give up when things get hard, but, instead, they all just say that May couldn’t distinguish between her pain and the pain of other people. They make excuses for her suicide. Granted, in the time that the story is set, there weren’t as many medical advances as there are now. If The Secret Life of Bees had taken place in modern times, May would have been diagnosed with a mental illness, and would probably have been on medicine. So maybe back then suicide was a more acceptable option for those who suffered from deep depression, because they didn’t know of a way to make it better.
I never really noticed that about her death, it's a great hing that you pointed it out though. I think that the sister were somewhat expecting it to happen. May's outburst were sometimes so crazy that I didn't even think that she was going to last long. Even though the "wailing wall" seemed to help her sometimes, she would have crazy out bursts over people that she ddn't even know. So, when something happened to someone who was closer to her, she finally broke.
In the end I felt that May was just mentally unstable. I don't really think that anything could've helped her, at least what the family was able to offer her which was prayer to the "Black Mary". May's death puzzled me for awhile, but I think it helped to show that after we read about her death is haunts us as readers and helps us understand how Lily's mother's death effects Lily.
I found it interesting that no one seems to frown upon the fact that May takes her own life in the book. The characters are very nonchalant about it, just saying things like, oh well, she just couldn’t take the pain anymore. They act as if suicide is a perfectly acceptable means of getting away from the sorrow of the world. June simply says, “’It’s just like April’” when they find her body (194). There’s no remorse about the way that she died, just about the fact that she’s gone. That reaction can send a negative message to young readers of this book who could be influenced by the characters’ reactions to May’s death. Her death could have been a time for one of the characters to say something about how you can’t just give up when things get hard, but, instead, they all just say that May couldn’t distinguish between her pain and the pain of other people. They make excuses for her suicide. Granted, in the time that the story is set, there weren’t as many medical advances as there are now. If The Secret Life of Bees had taken place in modern times, May would have been diagnosed with a mental illness, and would probably have been on medicine. So maybe back then suicide was a more acceptable option for those who suffered from deep depression, because they didn’t know of a way to make it better.
ReplyDeleteI never really noticed that about her death, it's a great hing that you pointed it out though. I think that the sister were somewhat expecting it to happen. May's outburst were sometimes so crazy that I didn't even think that she was going to last long. Even though the "wailing wall" seemed to help her sometimes, she would have crazy out bursts over people that she ddn't even know. So, when something happened to someone who was closer to her, she finally broke.
ReplyDeleteIn the end I felt that May was just mentally unstable. I don't really think that anything could've helped her, at least what the family was able to offer her which was prayer to the "Black Mary". May's death puzzled me for awhile, but I think it helped to show that after we read about her death is haunts us as readers and helps us understand how Lily's mother's death effects Lily.
ReplyDelete