The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Rebecca Wells paints a picture of the various roles that women often must encounter in their lives: mother, daughter, friend. As said by Charlotte Observer "She [Wells] speaks eloquently to what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a wife-and somehow, at last, a person." Wells uses a captivating style to create a simple plot, memorable symbolism and a reoccurring theme of friendship. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood teaches about the importance of giving and receiving love and finding joy in everyday life.
The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother Vivi, as they struggle to love each other based on their own childhood experiences. The reader also sees our two main characters in parallel encountering love and affairs of the heart; yet the most powerful love throughout the book is the love of four friends who stick together through the good and the bad. Vivi loves the Ya-Ya's; as adolescents they are looking for love and someone to look up to. Vivi didn't know how to love Sidda because Vivi's mother didn't know how to love her; therefore, Sidda doesn't know how to love Connor because she has never experienced love and is now afraid to be in love. The simplicity of the novel is that everyone is always looking to be loved. The simplicity is that in real life people are always searching to be loved, or finding love. Near the beginning of the novel when the ya-ya's are in their adolescence as young girls, going through the normal obstacles of childhood- fighting with their parents, getting into mischief, smoking and breaking curfew- they realize that by sticking together they can get through anything. They formalize this bond with a ceremony early on, "I am a member of the royal and true tribe of the Ya-Ya's I do solemnly swear to be loyal sister Ya-Ya's, and to love and look out for them,
The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother Vivi, as they struggle to love each other based on their own childhood experiences. The reader also sees our two main characters in parallel encountering love and affairs of the heart; yet the most powerful love throughout the book is the love of four friends who stick together through the good and the bad. Vivi loves the Ya-Ya's; as adolescents they are looking for love and someone to look up to. Vivi didn't know how to love Sidda because Vivi's mother didn't know how to love her; therefore, Sidda doesn't know how to love Connor because she has never experienced love and is now afraid to be in love. The simplicity of the novel is that everyone is always looking to be loved. The simplicity is that in real life people are always searching to be loved, or finding love. Near the beginning of the novel when the ya-ya's are in their adolescence as young girls, going through the normal obstacles of childhood- fighting with their parents, getting into mischief, smoking and breaking curfew- they realize that by sticking together they can get through anything. They formalize this bond with a ceremony early on, "I am a member of the royal and true tribe of the Ya-Ya's I do solemnly swear to be loyal sister Ya-Ya's, and to love and look out for them,
Cited: Primary Source: Wells, Rebecca. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. New York New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1996. Secondary Source: Wells, Rebecca. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. New York New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1996.