Voice

Laughter, Freedom, and Humor

Sue Monk Kidd did write "A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love -Connie May Fowler," (quote located on front cover of novel) but she also wrote a novel that made me laugh.

Far from being labeled as "funny," The Secret Life of Bees transcends itself, purpose, and meanings with a genuinely innocent humor. I was curious on page two's "People who think dying is the worst thing don't know a thing about life," and interested by page 3's "I was always having to choose between decent hair and a good night's sleep." These two remarks are perfectly believable 14 year-old thoughts, yet presented in an innocently wise way. It was this language that allowed me as a reader to identify with the experiences with someone I am rather different from. I was unable to identify which much of what Lily experienced on the surface; however, the description of the experience created an even playing field for a 23-year-old male to associate with a 14-year-old female.

This connection is best described on pg. 170, when the Boatwright house was retreating from 104 degree weather: "...lying down... wondering the true aim of life." Truthfully, I think she was partly experiencing the true aim of life, to be happy, to be free. She wanted to be free from T. Ray (which she was), she wanted to be free from her insecurities surrounding her mother (which she had the ability to do). Shortly after (7 pages later) her pondering the aim of life, Lily explains:

?And I was struck all at once how life was out there going through it regular courses, and I was suspended, waitin, caught in a terrible crevice between living my life and not living it.?

She felt she was caught, trapped. This imprisonment was balanced by feelings of freedom, a feeling that Lily does not recognize at first and is not comfortable with.

She prays to Our Lady of Chains, "send them rescue, send them consolation, send them freedom." She is praying for others exactly what she needs. And she does receive some sort of rescue or freedom as page 213 explains:

"closed my eyes, bee hum ran through my whole body. Ran through the whole earth. It was the oldest sound there was. Souls flying away.?

The contrast of feeling suffocated from May's death to the freedom of lying on the ground with her mother's belongings is mirrored through other instances in the book. The part I would most like to examine though is a shorter time cycle from restricted to free. Take the example of Lily riding with Zach in the truck on pages 124-25. Lily is at first detached and short, but after Zach hits a couple of bumps in the road, she laughs hysterically and consequently frees herself from her bad mood. "The more my head slammed against the truck, the worse it got, till I was having one big, hilarious seizure." She continues, "I remember the pleasure of fainting that day during the Daughters of Mary meeting..."

Lily was connecting two completely different scenarios, but similar in the freedom of laughter and fainting.

Laughter is fantastic. I love to laugh. I like the eyes tearing and face reddening. I like the hearty exhale afterward.

Gelotology-(root word, gelos (gr) meaning "laughter") is the psychological study of laughter. More and more, scientists are beginning to realize the value of laughter on a physiological level. For instance, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones and contributes to overall strengthening of the immune system. As the field of gelotology grows, practicing "laughter clubs" have grown around the world. Hearts lighten, souls lift, the laughter multiplies, but what is a laugh and why I am relating it to The Secret Life of Bees?

Prisoners at Mumbai Jail in Bombay are benefiting from thought-free laughter (we could draw a similarity to the imprisonment Lily feels from her past...but uneeded). Philosopher John Morreall suggests, "Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free." Lily is experiencing laughter as a key to freedom and happiness. When she laughs, it?s a healthy way for her to experience the freedom she is trying so hard to achieve.

Encyclopedia Brittanica calls laughing "rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions." I call it awesome.

Did you know...
*Laughing 100 times releases the same amount of body energy of using a rowing machine for 10 minutes? or 15 minutes on an exercise bike?

* Puns are processed on the left side of the brain while other complex non-wordplay jokes are processed by the right side?

Thanks to these useful sites for their valuable information.
http://people.howstuffworks.com/laughter1.htm
http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/march/nspub.asp
http://www.worldlaughtertour.com

Posted by AnthonyGigliotti at March 30, 2004 05:51 PM