Previous
Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Remembering Babylon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Xenophobia
Gender and Power
Community and Insularity
Coming of Age
Colonialism and Property
Summary
Analysis
Janet has been helping Mrs. Hutchence tend her bees for many weeks, and she feels that the older woman is her “first and […] greatest friend.” The two first meet through Gemmy, whom Mrs. Hutchence sometimes employs to build hives for her or retrieve swarms of bees from the wilderness, since he “knew about these things.” As soon as Janet sees Mrs. Hutchence working with the bees, blowing smoke to keep them calm, Janet feels the sight stir something deep inside her.
For Janet, the bees represent possibility, the potential for her to grow and utilize her intelligence and aptitude in a field not dominated by men, as she will continue to do later in her life. In the same way that Gemmy spurs character growth in Jock, Gemmy also forms the initial connection between Janet and Mrs. Hutchence, once again making him a catalyst for positive change in others’ lives.
Themes
From that moment on, Janet often spends time with Mrs. Hutchence and learns about the bees, which she appreciates for the way they force humans to operate on the bees’ own terms, adjusting to “their side of things.” Janet feels that if she could step outside her own mind and enter into their communal hive mind, she would understand what it might be like to be angelic. Janet soon has her own bee-keeping equipment and her knowledge nearly matches Mrs. Hutchence’s.
Janet’s appreciation for the fact that she must handle the bees on their own terms—while still getting what she wants from them—is again markedly different from the need to dominate others that Lachlan exhibits. Again, the two characters demonstrate the contrast between men’s and women’s typical approaches to power and achieving their aims.
Themes
One day, an event occurs that locks Janet into beekeeping “for life.” Late in the day, after Janet has removed her protective clothing, a swarm of bees rises suddenly from their hives and sets upon her, covering her skin and blotting out her vision. Janet’s mind tells her to be still, that she will be safe since the bees have already fed and are content. She gives herself over to them and hears a new voice in her mind say, “You are our bride.” Janet can hear people calling out to her, but they seem to be in another world. When the bees finally peel away like “a crust,” though Janet is completely unharmed, her skin feels new to her.
Janet once again displays an uncanny strength and resolve—despite the fact that she is a woman, and thus assumed to be weak by her society—through her ability to remain calm and trust in her own knowledge of the bees’ behavior. The voice in her head, calling her its bride, not only foreshadows her future life’s work—discovering how bees communicate—but also that she will never marry, instead devoting herself as a nun to the study of beekeeping.
Themes
Later in her life, Janet will become a master apiarist and an expert on bee biology, history, and behavior, even producing her own distinctive, cross-bred varieties. But in the present, Janet goes to comfort Mrs. Hutchence, who is overcome with fear and whose faith in the fairness of the bees had faltered while Janet’s “faith had been absolute.” Janet feels that she was saved by “the power of her own belief, which could change mere circumstances and make miracles.” Although she looks the same to Mrs. Hutchence, Janet feels that she has been given a new body, a simpler form refined by the crucible of the bees. When she meets Gemmy’s awestruck glance, she is convinced that she now see herself as he sees her.
Although Janet is not recognized for her toughness or tenacity because she is a woman, her discovery of the power and purity of her conviction represents its own form of power. Such resolve and confidence in what she knows to be true once again contrasts with the common insecurity of most men in the settlement, who constantly try to project an image of power or control but internally doubt themselves or question their own abilities.
Themes
Get the entire Remembering Babylon LitChart as a printable PDF.
