The Queen Honeybee
"The Queen Honeybee" is a nickname for Shug Avery in Alice Walker's The Color Purple. The nickname shows up on an advetisement for her performance at the Lucky Star. The name is a sign of affection, and the word honey suggests that she is sweet. However, honeybees are known to have a stinger. The honeybee is a metaphor for duality of Shug's personality. She acts sweet, but Shug is shown to have bite to her personality. The queen bee's function in the hive is to reproduce. This is a comparison between the queen bee's association with fertility and Shug's stong sex drive. The honeybee is also a symbol of nature, and this supports Shug's religious ideology. Shug finds god in nature, rather than church. If god is considered "King," then Shug being called "Queen" suggests the goddess of nature.
-Elyse Rogers
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