In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd uses darkness to symbolise unfamiliar environments such as Lily living in the Boatwright house. In the epigram on page eighty two from Exploring the World of Social Insects, Kidd cites, “Let’s imagine that for a moment we are tiny enough to follow a bee into a hive. Usually the first thing we would have to get used to is the darkness…” Just like a human in a bees nest would have to adjust to the darkness, lily has to adjust to the situation of living with total strangers. The best way for someone the size of a bee to live in the darkness is to learn how to communicate with the bees. Similarly, Lily assimilates to the household by communicating with August. Kidd use the symbol of darkness to
