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Whenever May Boatwright hears about something tragic in the world, she writes it down on a piece of paper and slips the paper into the cracks of a stone wall near her house. It’s clear that the stone wall symbolizes the slow, sad accumulation of pain in May’s mind, and indeed the potential for suffering to build up in anyone’s psychology. Since most of the tragedies May responds to are race-related (the imprisonment of Zach, for example), the stone wall also takes on a more specific symbolic meaning: it stands for the horrors of the African-American experience in America.
The Stone Wall Quotes in The Secret Life of Bees
The The Secret Life of Bees quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Stone Wall. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
I walked the length of the fence, and it was the same all the way, hundreds of these bits of paper. I pulled one out and opened it, but the writing was too blurred from rain to make out. I dug another one. Birmingham, Sept 15, four little angels dead.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Stone Wall Symbol Timeline in The Secret Life of Bees
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Stone Wall appears in The Secret Life of Bees. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
The next morning, Lily goes for a walk around August’s house. She finds a stone wall with hundreds of small bits of paper sticking in the cracks. Lily takes one of...
(full context)
Chapter 5
Lily asks August about the stone wall with the pieces of paper, and August explains that May pushes a piece of paper...
(full context)
...of paper. She writes her mother’s name on the paper and slips it into the stone wall . Lily wonders what she should do next, and decides to find out as much...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...be living together. May seems especially sad about Neil. Lily suggests she go to the stone wall , and May does so.
(full context)
Chapter 7
...this, writes, “June and Neil” on a piece of paper and slips it in the stone wall .
(full context)
Chapter 8
...a delicious feast, and May proudly claims that she hasn’t put any paper in the stone wall for the last five days. Zach joins the meal. He announces that he’s heard some...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...news about Zach. Nobody tells May what’s happened, for fear that she’ll go to the stone wall again. Unfortunately, she answers a phone call from Zach’s mother, and learns about Zach’s imprisonment....
(full context)
Chapter 10
Lily sits in the kitchen with August, June, and Rosaleen while May goes to the stone wall . May doesn’t return for a very long time, and eventually the others go out...
(full context)
