A vida xecreta das abellas

A VIDA SECRETA DAS ABELLAS Novela escrita por Sue Monk Kidd Película dirixida por Gina Prince-Bythewood

Preparación do comentario colectivo

IES Pedro Floriani (Redondela) Biblioteca – Club de lectura O Moucho Azul Colaboran: Departamento de lingua e literatura inglesas Departamento de filosofía

A VIDA SECRETA DAS ABELLAS PREPARACIÓN DO COMENTARIO COLECTIVO 1. Unha Bildungsroman.

2. Temas 3. Símbolos 4. A nai 5. A comunidade de mulleres 6. A virxe negra

7. Motivos 8. Os epígrafes 9. Orixe dalgunhas ideas do libro 10. As letras das cancións 11. Cuestionario

Moitas das ideas e citas textuais que se expoñen aquí están tomadas do blog da autora, Sue Monk Kidd:

1. Unha Bildungsroman.

A vida secreta das abellas é unha novela de crecemento e madureza. As experiencias no libro moldean e definen a personalidade de Lily psicolóxica, moral e socialmente.

Atópase nunha posición única ao ter como nai adoptiva a unha muller afroamericana cunha visión do mundo peculiar e enriquecedora.

2. Temas O racismo A importancia dos relatos A forza dunha comunidade feminina

3. Símbolos As colmeas As fotografías e obxectos da nai A virxe negra (A Nosa Señora das Cadeas) As mensaxes Pelo, sombreiros, broches e cores

4. A nai A busca da nai, o anhelo da nai ou figura materna.

A importancia da nai e a súa significancia para o adecuado desenvolvemento da persoa.

O «amor de nai» como compasivo, comprensión total, guía firme e crítica constructiva.

5. A comunidade de mulleres Consciencia da propia feminidade (Lily).

Vínculo entre as mulleres da casa rosada como se apoian, consuelan, se animan.

A muller como símbolo de fortaleza e amor.

Lily comenza a sentirse poderosa como muller.

6. A virxe negra Representa a nai (Deborah) e a nai adoptiva (Agosto).

Revolucionaria e figura antiopresiva.

Esperanza e ruptura con prexuicios e «cadeas».

Símbolo de libertad y consuelo.

7. Motivos As nais As abellas (símbolo de alma, morte y renacemiento).

[Descubrin que ...] os relatos de tradición oral sobre as abellas remóntanse aos tempos antigos, cando as abellas se consideraban un símbolo da morte e o renaceer. Tamén descubrin himnos medievais que facían referencia á Virxe María como o panal e Cristo como o mel que fluía del. Nalgunhas historias, a Virxe María asociábase coa abella raíña, e na Grecia antiga referíanse á deusa Deméter como a raíña abella e as súas sacerdotisas eran as abellas traballadoras, que a servían.

Bee lore goes back to ancient times, when bees were considered a symbol of the soul, of death and rebirth. I also discovered medieval hymns that referred to the Virgin Mary as the bee hive, and Christ as the honey that flowed from her. In some stories, the Virgin Mary was associated with the queen bee, and in ancient Greece the goddess Demeter was referred to as the queen bee, and her priestesses were the worker bees, who served her.

8. Os epígrafes Como se suxire nos epígrafes do principio dos capítulos, pensei na comunidade da casa rosa da novela como unha especie de panal. Respecto a quen pode ser a abella raíña na novela, déixovos ás vosas propias conclusións. Pero quizais vos interese, como a min, saber que durante moito tempo as/os coidadoras/es de abellas pensaron que a raíña era un rei. Non foi ata 1609 que empezaron a pensar en serio se realmente existía un rei das abellas, grazas a Charles Butler que escribiu un libro titulado A monarquía feminina.

As the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter in the novel suggest, I thought of the pink house in the novel as a kind of hive community. As for who the queen bee in the novel might be, I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. You might be as interested as I was, though, to learn that for a very long time, beekeepers assumed that the queen was a king. It wasn’t until 1609 that people began to seriously question the existence of king bees, thanks to Charles Butler who wrote a book called The Feminine Monarchie.

9. Orixe dalgunhas ideas do libro O Sul era campo fértil para a miña narrativa, pero a novela quedou afectada tamén polas miñas inquedanzas e estudos psicolóxicos. Poñer unha Señora María negra na miña novela non foi algo calculado: ocorreu así, sen máis.

Pasei moitos anos explorando figuras femeninas arquetípicas e historias de culturas e relixións diversas, e en particular o que lles ocorre ás mulleres cando as conexións con esas imaxes faltan ou se devalúan. Unha cousa que me quedou clara é que esas imaxes dunna nai divina teñen unha importancia sorprendente para a plenitude psicolóxica das mulleres, especialmente para que tomen posición con respecto á súa autoridade. Foi a través deste estudo que me empezou a intrigar o xeito tranquilo, case subversivo, en que María foi adquirindo nunha gran parte da relixión occidental a función dunha dimensión feminina de Deus. Lin un ensaio de Kathleen Norris no que facía a impresionante afirmación de que María é, sobre todo, moi axeitada para a post-modernidade. A autora non elaboraba os seus argumentos, pero eu pensei que se refería a que María, coas adicións do feminismo, ten a enerxía para sustentar as reformas que as mulleres teñen por diante.

Cando empecei a novela quería que o impulso condutor da vida de Lily fose a busca do seu fogar e da súa nai. Pero dentro de min sabía con claridade que había unha busca menos palpable, máis simbólica, do fogar e da nai: unha volta á súa morada interior e un descubrimento da nai dentro de si mesma. Eu sabía que Lily tiña que atopar unha forza nunca soñada e que tiña que facelo do mesmo xeito que o fixeron as poderosas mulleres negras que estaban ao seu arredor: dándolle poder a unha presencia feminina da divinidade, neste caso a María Negra.

Sentía que calquera imaxe de María que aparecese na novela tiña que ser negra. Non só porque as mulleres que lle rendían culto eran negras, senón porque historicamente as Señoras Negras estiveron case sempre na raíz da insurxencia. A primeira vez que me fixei na Señora Negra foi con trinta e moitos anos, a través das obras de Marion Woodman, unha psicanalista da escola de C. Jung. Para min foi unha revelación saber que en Europa había por todas partes centos de Señoras Negras que proviñan dunha tradición ancestral de deusas negras. Eu vexo as Señoras Negras como a Señora Branca antes de que a Igrexa lle fixera un lavado de cara para borrar o que hai nela de verdadeiramente interesante. Empecei a estudar as Señoras Negras e a viaxar aos seus lugares de peregrinación, especialmente en Francia. Descubrin que moitos dos seus relatos e historias revelan unha María que desafía a opresión abertamente, cara a cara. En Polonia, en América Central e do Sul e noutros lugares ela foi un símbolo da revolución.

Decidin crear unha Señora Negra para a novela que existiu durante a escravitude, no Sul, e que era un símbolo de liberdade e de consolo.

The South was fertile ground for my fiction, but the novel was also affected by my spiritual and psychological pursuits and study. I did'n’t set out to put a black Virgin Mary in my novel; it just happened.

For a lot of years, I explored archetypal feminine images and stories from different cultures and religions, and particularly what happens to women when connections with these images are missing or devalued. One thing that became clear to me is that images of a divine mother are surprisingly important in the psychological wholeness of women, especially in the process of women taking up residence in their own authority. It was through this study that I became intrigued with the ways that Mary has quietly, even subversively, functioned as the feminine dimension of God in much of western religion. I read an essay by author Kathleen Norris in which she made the amazing statement that Mary is particularly suited to post-modernism. She didn’t elaborate on the reason, but my guess is that Mary, fresh with feminist appropriations, has the potential to undergird women’s reformations.

As I began the novel, I wanted the driving impetus in Lily’s life to be the search for home and for her mother. But clearly in the back of mind, I knew there was a less tangible, more symbolic search for home and mother that needed to take place: a coming home to herself and the discovery of the mother within. I knew Lily would have to find an undreamed of strength, and that she would do it the same way the powerful black women around her did it – through the empowerment of a divine feminine presence, in this case a Black Mary.

I felt that any image of Mary in the novel would have to be black. Not only because the women who revered her were black, but because historically Black Madonnas have often been at the root of insurgence. I first became aware of the Black Madonna in my late thirties through the writings of Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman. It was a revelation to me that hundreds of very old Black Madonnas exist in Europe and elsewhere, and that their darkness is a legacy of ancient black goddesses. I think of the Black Madonna as the White Madonna before the church scrubbed the really interesting stuff out of her. I began to study the Black Madonna, and to travel to her pilgrimage sites, especially in France. I discovered that many of her stories and history reveal a Mary who is openly defiant in the face of oppression. In Poland, South and Central America, and other places, she has been a symbol of revolution. I decided I would create a Black Madonna for the novel, who had existed during slavery in the South, and that she would be a symbol of freedom and consolation.

10. As letras das cancións Sam and Ruby Heaven's My Home When I was born My daddy said I was broken Beginning of the end To a life I hadn’t chosen He taught me how to give up He taught me how to work the system But I never had the time And never had the luxury Life’s hard I’ve always known that Never been handed no welcome mat When I die Please don’t cry ‘Cause heaven’s my home anyhow Shinin’ my shoes Feels like time for wasting ‘Cause this bright sun Is the only shine I need They say you only live once That the light you get’s for keeping But glory’s gonna come And make a new man outta me Life’s hard I’ve always known that Never been handed no welcome mat When I die Please don’t cry ‘Cause heaven’s my home anyhow When I was born My face was like the angels I took my father by the hand And said “Life won’t be hard now” Life’s hard I’ve always known that Never been handed no welcome mat When I die Please don’t cry ‘Cause heaven’s my home anyhow.

[Thanks to Rachel for lyrics]

Lizz Wright Song For Mia I went down to the water , all night long I'm putting my feet in ,all night long And I went down to the water , all night long And I'm putting my dreams in , all night long And what you think of me ,I can't say I'll take these bad dreams and I'll drove along the way I'm at the shore now , the shadows at my back I can feel the waves coming there , heavy and black But I can't turn away now 'cause I They're singin' a song And I , I'm in harmony I'm singing along And what you did to me I , I can't take no more I'll take these bad dreams and I'll lay them at the shore The end of the ocean I'll never see I stare out in the distance and it's looking back at me And I'll look down to the water all night long And I'll put my feet in , all night long And I'll put my dreams in , all night long And I'll put my tears in , all night long I went down to the water

Sue Monk Kidd The Honey Song Place a beehive on my grave and let the honey soak through.

When I'm dead and gone, that's what I want from you.

The streets of heaven are gold and sunny, but I'll stick with my plot & a pot of honey.

Place a beehive on my grave and let the honey soak through.

[Thanks to Wendy Skovo for lyrics]

Joe Purdy Mary I saw Mary as she was walking along the water Smiling at me on the heart of the river And I tried to wave but she was walking away She said that she'd been waiting on me all day long I tried to call her, said, "Please come back 'Cause I didn't mean to make you sad", she said, "Don't you worry, 'cause I'll see you again But I hear my mother calling and I have to go in"

India.Arie Beautiful The time is right I'm gonna pack my bags And take that journey down the road Cause over the mountain I see the bright sun shinning And I want to live inside the glow Yeah I wanna go to place where I am nothing and everything That exists between here and nowhere I wanna got to a place time as no consequence oh yeah The sky opens to my prayers I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, Please understand that it not that I don't care But right know these wall are closing in on me I love you more than I love life itself But I need to find a place were I can breathe I can breathe I wanna go to place were I can hold the intangible And let of the pain with all my might I wanna go to a place where I am suspended in ecstasy Some where between dark and light Where wrong becomes right I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...

11. Cuestionario Que simbolizan as abellas?

E a colmea?

Cal é a verdadeira busca de Lily?

Que supón para Lily a súa nova casa en Tiburon?

Que modelo de muller representan Agosto Boatwright e as súas irmás para Lily?

Que momentos clave da historia fan cambiar a Lily?

En que madura?

Como se reivindica o poder feminino no relato?

Que tipo de femineidade domina entre as nosas adolescentes?