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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood The One of the most fascinating strong women characters ever created is Vivi the strong, eccentric young lady who through her life was dedicated to search and to find the spot of happiness within her life. One of her most major aspects was not to present herself as suitable part of society but to remain spiritual harmony between her flesh and soul. Even though from the first sigh many could think of her as young lost lady who was led by ambitious group that had destroyed her life and brought the disappointment to her family. Nevertheless, Vivi was presented in Mrs. Wells novel Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as one of the member of Ya-Yas the exemplary of a 20 th century women image: aggressive, strong female who determined to reach her goal which is to be happy. It was clearly understandable that such character should bring attention of cinematograph and to be interpreted by marvelous Hollywood stars.
Therefore, the Hollywood interpretation of the Rebecca Wells novel didnt make audience to wait and in 2002 Hollywood had produced the film "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. " However before going to the movie let us first observe the book itself and to underline the major aspects of this beautiful artwork. The book starts by describing young college girl Sidda who Washington State and as many girls in her age are tormented by fear and uncertainty about the future that she is about to face. This is when she receives the biographical album from her mother Vivi that depicts the mothers life when she was Sidda's age. Though the album reveals more questions than answers, and leads Sidda to encounter the unknowable mystery of life and the legacy of imperfect love. With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unscrambling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas- the group of young girls who were dedicated to wild and eccentric actions, and the resulting reverberations on Siddalee. The writer describes collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, emphasizes on the story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women that impossible to tame.
The whole life of Sidda's mother is contained in the book, through pictures, writing and clippings. And a certain life force is found in the scent of that leather book, uniquely Vivi. Her mother and the other Ya-Yas lifes stories are found within the pages and Sidda ends up finding out more from the book about her mother than she ever could have been told by Vivi herself, or the other three Ya-Yas. Sidda is touched as she holds the priceless item in her hands and later as she looks at the pages-the pictures-her mothers handwriting. And Sidda cries, looking at the book, which holds her mother. As Sidda looked at these various objects, her imagination kicked into full gear, and she could feel the life that her mothers keepsake held.
For a moment, she felt overwhelmed with gratitude toward Vivi for sending the scrapbook. She felt almost ashamed of being presented with such an embarrassment of riches. Sidda wanted to cry because she could not bear the thought of how vulnerable the scrapbook had been as it voyaged across the country in planes and trucks. Mama parted with these divine secrets because I asked her to, Sidda thought. The reason I feel like crying, Sidda realized is not because this scrapbook is valuable, but because Mama, whether she realized it or not, had been herself vulnerable to me (Page 29) One of the dominant motifs in the novel focuses on the contrast between the spirit and the law. Sister Solange and Sister Forming take very different approaches to teaching Vivi.
The Teensy and Buggy have very different ideas as to what makes a statue of the Virgin Mary beautiful. The Ya-Yas and the Catholic Church have very different ideas as to where Genevieve can be buried. Therefore Vivi thinks that "Sometimes higher laws than Thornton's must be obeyed. " She refers herself to the spiritual harmony with nature and God that sometimes contradicts to the essential law of the society that she lived. It seems that Wells tried to resolve the conflict between spiritual needs and the law by which we are forced to live.
One of the things that might be slightly confusing about the book is how rapidly it switches form one narrator to another. For example, one moment we were hearing about Vivi's stay in the slammer and the next moment we were hearing about Sidda's worry about marrying Connor McGill. It was confusing, however, when we flip back a couple of pages we realize where the story, the setting, the decade, and narrator changed. On the other hand the movie version of the story makes apparent connections between different scenes.
Nevertheless, all the little names for all the characters in this book a little confusing. We can see that Teensy is not Teensy's real name, her real name is Aimee however, but only her awful Aunt from Atlanta actually calls her Aimee. Call her Teensy or Princess-Naked-as-a-jaybird, or a Ya-Ya. Its a lot to remember when youve got four Ya-Yas, sixteen Petite Ya-Yas and a variety of other characters from mothers to boyfriends to keep track of. But the Ya-Yas are so loveable and endearing even when theyre drinking, smoking and following the rule of smoking, drinking and never thinking. One of the things that were both perfectly described in the movie "The Divine Secrets" and in the book is the character of strong females who are eager to reach their ultimate goals.
This type of character is similar to many writers of that time. For example the Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (the book was also interpreted by cinematograph and is a classic of Hollywood) is quite similar story about young lady who had strong desire to reach their destiny by ambitious and eccentric actions. Once she realized what her mother was doing, Sidda got up from the swing and began hopping too. She hopped first on her right leg and then on her left leg, leaning her eyes down in the direction of the lachrymatory so that her tears might fall in. Vivi, holding the jar of tears and, and Sidda wearing a once-pawned, now redeemed ring on her finger, hopped and cried. Hopped and cried and laughed, and made wild spontaneous whooping sounds.
If someone had happened upon them, they might have thought the two women were performing a strange ritual tribal dance. The ritual Mother-Daughter Dance of the Almost-Lost-But-Still-Mighty Tribe of the Divine Ya-Yas. (Page 349) However while comparing the original book version to the movie scenes we can see some distinctions within style of representing the story. This is quite understandable the Callie Khouri the director of the movie, was devoted to show her understanding of the story and to show it from quite different perspective. For instance the style of Rebecca Wells book is slow and calming, it takes a long period of time to comprehend and to analyze the actions of the characters.
On the other side the film version tried to delineate the behaviors and desire of Ya-Ya group in condense form. This is probably why most people that I know prefer not the movie "The Divine Secrets" but the novel by Rebecca Wells. Nevertheless while many male reviewers have broadly criticized both the movie and the book, it seems that they have misses the more significant point. "The Divine Secrets" are not about relationships or gender ghettos or, as it might superficially be seen, the contentious natures of the mother-daughter bond. It is all about the central Myth of Woman.
This is the reason why Vivi, Teensy, Neci, and Caro have found such fruitful soil in the hearts and minds of millions of women. By watching movie or reading book it seems the audience can clearly comprehend the behaviors of four girls tribe: the zany Ya-Yas-an almost once extinct but strong group of girls who are guarded by the moon goddess herself. It seems like we know Teensy's mother Genevieve, the ravishing woman who introduced the Ya-Yas to makeup, and the French language. It was Genevieve who saved Vivi from her life at the religious boarding school her mother forced her to attend where the rules were severely strict to their students. It makes us close to Jack and his quiet gentlemanly beauty, how he played the Cajun fiddle, loved Vivi, and wanted to impress his father by enlisting in the war. However the most of all we know of the four Ya-Yas love for each other.
How Teensy, Neci and Caro didnt give up on Vivi, even when she was convinced that the devil had entered her children and beat them severely with a belt. I have loved your mother like a sister, loved her like family, loved her as much as I love my children, probably more than I loved my husband. Through the whole story the reader or the person who watches the movie more and more starts to feel the sympathy to whole Ya-yas sisterhood as to the characters who maybe were not always convinced to do the proper actions, that initially complicated their lives, but were similar to the real life people with mistakes and falls. Nevertheless, the feelings of love and passion are common to all of the Ya-yas sisters and the writer makes connections between Sidda's worry about marriage with Connor McGill and Vivi's feelings to Sidda's father.
The decision that Vivi had made formed her life path and as any mother she was lead to prevent her daughter from many unwise actions. On the other side it reveals the ordinary young character Sidda whom as many a college girl uniformly unmoved by the notion of decision-making, because they believe that every choice Matters. Not matters in the sense that every choice has consequences, but Matters, in the sense that it is an epic event of cosmic proportions. I suppose this is where the neo-pagan aspect enters the picture. A Woman cannot be less than a goddess. It is the genre itself that holds such marvelous appeal for so many women.
In instance we may compare the main characters of the story to the strange cult of Diana -the late princess but not the Huntress. "The Divine Secrets" ultimately reveals the true Woman, as a female possessed of the requisite equipment that favors over action movies, Oprah over Aristotle, "Friends" over the "X-Files, " need nothing more than to be taken Seriously. Which, for the average guy, is best translated as Unquestioning Reverence For All Actions and Utterances. Nevertheless, in order to receive the fully understanding of the story it would be rather to see both representation of this wonderful story, and to absorb itself to the divine part of Ya-Ya group. The transformation of the audience needs and desires is major force that keeps our fully attention to the wonderful story. We can see the similarities between the characters of that are present in "The Divine Secrets" and our own lives. The problems and mistakes that Sidda, Vivi, Teensy, and other characters were facing are common for many of us.
The story unites us with the characters; it makes us to laugh with them, to weep with them and to believe in true love and moon goddess whos looking down on our tribe. The story makes us to feel ourselves, as we are part of the Ya-Ya. This is when we can feel the aim of Ya-Yas- to find the harmony with our spirit and our social existence. Bibliography: Margot Adler: Drawing Down the Moon (Beacon 1979, 1986, 1997). Overview of American Paganism. Carol P.
Christ: Rebirth of the Goddess (Addison-Wesley 1997). Theology of Goddess religion. 3. Rebecca Wells: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (HarperCollins 1996)
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