Throughout the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, there are many meaningful quotes that apply to our everyday life. One of these quotes is “There is nothing perfect, there is only life.” What the author meant by putting this quote in the novel is that nothing in life is perfect, because that’s how life is. Nothing in life can or will ever be perfect, because that’s how life works. It is a simple quote, but it has a more meaning than it shows. The quote “There is nothing perfect, there is only life” can easily relate to the literary elements theme, conflict, and characterization. For example, the quote relates with characterization because each character in the novel faces a problem. No matter how small or how big that problem
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One example in this book that this quote is used to develop the story further is when Rosaleen insults three racists and got beat up and jailed for it. When Lily and Rosaleen are taken in, the officer states why they are under arrest: “‘You’re under arrest,’ he told Rosaleen. “Assault, theft, and disturbing the peace’” (Kidd 33). At the end of the story, Rosaleen goes to register to vote again, and succeeds. When telling Lily what she is going to do, she confidently says “‘I’m gonna finish what I started,’ Rosaleen said, lifting her chin. ‘I’m gonna register to vote’” (Kidd 281). A second example in this book that the quote “There is nothing perfect, there is only life” helps further the story is Lily’s journey to finding the truth about her mother. While thinking about the incident that took her mother away from her, she thinks this: “I would meet her saying, ‘Mother, forgive. Please forgive,’ and she would kiss my skin till it chapped and tell me I was not to blame” (Kidd 3) Lily was thinking about how she would get her mother’s forgiveness, and how things would be perfect again. In life, things are not just handed to you, you have to work for them. By the end of the book, Lily realizes that the most important thing is not her mother’s forgiveness, but her own. She says, “I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to forgive us both again” (Kidd 301). Lily and her journey in finding her mother is a great example of how “There is nothing perfect, there is only life.” Both of these examples show how the quote “There is nothing perfect, there is only life” is developed and used to further the story. As the story starts progressing, each character realizes that thing in life are not just handed to them, and you’re always going to have to face a
One example in this book that this quote is used to develop the story further is when Rosaleen insults three racists and got beat up and jailed for it. When Lily and Rosaleen are taken in, the officer states why they are under arrest: “‘You’re under arrest,’ he told Rosaleen. “Assault, theft, and disturbing the peace’” (Kidd 33). At the end of the story, Rosaleen goes to register to vote again, and succeeds. When telling Lily what she is going to do, she confidently says “‘I’m gonna finish what I started,’ Rosaleen said, lifting her chin. ‘I’m gonna register to vote’” (Kidd 281). A second example in this book that the quote “There is nothing perfect, there is only life” helps further the story is Lily’s journey to finding the truth about her mother. While thinking about the incident that took her mother away from her, she thinks this: “I would meet her saying, ‘Mother, forgive. Please forgive,’ and she would kiss my skin till it chapped and tell me I was not to blame” (Kidd 3) Lily was thinking about how she would get her mother’s forgiveness, and how things would be perfect again. In life, things are not just handed to you, you have to work for them. By the end of the book, Lily realizes that the most important thing is not her mother’s forgiveness, but her own. She says, “I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to forgive us both again” (Kidd 301). Lily and her journey in finding her mother is a great example of how “There is nothing perfect, there is only life.” Both of these examples show how the quote “There is nothing perfect, there is only life” is developed and used to further the story. As the story starts progressing, each character realizes that thing in life are not just handed to them, and you’re always going to have to face a