Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

The novel tells the stories of Sidda’s troubles in the present and how they link back to the past stories and secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood. This structure blends past and present, with the novel removing the boundaries between them and revealing them to be directly and intimately connected.

From its opening pages, the novel shows that memories of past events have a bearing on the present. The novel’s prologue sees Sidda remembering a moment from her childhood—she feels abandoned by her mother in that early memory and is rescued from her loneliness by a supernatural vision of the Virgin Mary who smiles down at young Sidda. In the novel, Mary comes to represent The Power of Female Friendships. So, Sidda’s early past is essentially mirrored in her present life as an adult when she once again feels abandoned by her mother in her time of need, but their relationship is repaired by their friends, the Ya-Yas.

The scrapbook—the “Divine Secrets”—is another way that past and present are connected in the novel. Vivi gives Sidda the scrapbook so that she may comb through its memories without Vivi having to relive them herself, and she does this with the hope that Sidda will find clarity in her present by examining her own past and Vivi’s past. Sidda has vivid memories of her childhood and the time she spent with her mother and the other Ya-Yas—she calls this a “Gumbo Ya-Ya” (43), a mixture of all the sights, scents, and sounds from her childhood. As she pores over the scrapbook, she sees snippets of their lives and feels closer to them than ever. Sidda remembers that she is a Petite Ya-Ya, born into a long line of strong women.

Memories are shown to have the power to alter characters’ perspectives—and therefore their choices—in the present. As Sidda’s childhood memories start to come back to her, one of these memories in particular alters her entire perspective. In recalling the day that she almost missed the elephant ride, Sidda feels that same sense of regret and self-castigation that she felt on that day. She recalls, too, the way her mother picked her up out of her frozen state and encouraged her to embrace life. Recalling all of this helps Sidda realize that she need not fear love and that to immerse herself in love and life, she must be willing to risk some pain. This impacts her decision to embrace love and marriage with Connor.

While the past has a clear impact on Sidda’s present, it also impacts Vivi’s attitude toward Sidda. After sending the scrapbook to Sidda, Vivi, too, begins recalling memories—some of which are not fully revealed in the scrapbook and which she instead keeps close to her heart. As Sidda looks at a photograph or scrap of paper at her cabin in Washington, Vivi recalls those associated memories back in Louisiana. While the novel reveals these memories in full, they are not fully revealed to Sidda. Thus, Sidda gains only a partial understanding of the past, but it is enough to get what she needs from the scrapbook. For instance, Sidda never gets the full story behind Jack’s death and what an enormous impact it had on her mother; instead, as she looks at a photograph of Jack and Vivi together in their youth, Sidda “could only study the photo and wonder” (127). She has no idea about “the tectonic shift that took place in [Vivi]” after Jack’s death (127). Even at the age of 70, Vivi admits to Teensy that Jack’s memory still haunts her. As Vivi thinks back on this past trauma, she understands that just as these events affect her present, they also affect her daughter’s. She understands Sidda’s hesitation to commit herself to love as being engendered by Vivi’s own past, and this is why she knows how to fix it. In the end, Sidda finds that it is not the truth that matters, but whether a person can reach out with love.

The sense of sisterhood and communal tribalism that the Ya-Ya women share is what defines them and makes them stand out as a unique group of women. They found one another when they were very young children and have been inseparable ever since. The Ya-Yas are unapologetically themselves when they are together. They share a deep and unspoken understanding of support and unconditional forgiveness. They do not judge or hold grudges against one another. Their love and loyalty enrich their lives as well as the lives of all whom they decide to turn their light of friendship on, like Sidda. She compares the experience of growing up among the Ya-Yas to being part of “a communal tribe, a little primitive matriarchal village” (40).

The Ya-Yas are more than friends; they call each other sisters and establish their closeness through a blood ritual at their initiation ceremony. This ritual is a symbolic and significant moment in the building of the sisterhood; it solidifies them as friends and sisters for life. At the ritual, they give themselves new names, dance naked, share blood, and send candles out into the bayou. They take on titles that match their talents or interests: For instance, Vivi is named “Mistress of Legend” since she is imaginative and likes to invent stories, while Necie’s title is “Mistress of Refreshments” since she loves food and always provides it at their meetings. In this way, the Ya-Yas acknowledge and respect one another, making space for their individual differences.

The depth of the Ya-Yas’ friendship initially seems insular to Sidda; however, she realizes that they make places for all their loved ones among them. Sidda recalls that, as a child, she always felt a certain jealousy toward the Ya-Yas, particularly because they seemed more interested in each other than in their children. Looking at photos of them together as teenagers, Sidda wishes for close friendships like theirs in her own life. She thinks: “I want to lay up like that, to float unstructured, without ambition or anxiety. I want to inhabit my life like a porch” (79). However, as she delves into their pasts, she comes to see that their love for one another didn’t simply exist because they were carefree; it existed despite their problems. When the Ya-Yas sense that Sidda is struggling and needs their help, they happily include her in their world, and she comes to see that she was always one of them.

The Ya-Yas also share their scrapbook with Sidda, which allows her to look into their intimate past and provides her with the insight she needs to overcome her fear of love. Sidda looks at a photo of the Ya-Yas when they were pregnant and remarks to Connor that they didn’t stop drinking and smoking. However, Connor points out something else about the women; he is most impressed by their “sisterhood and the laughter and the not being so damn alone in the world” (313). Humor and companionship are the defining traits of the Ya-Yas, and although Sidda always felt apart from it, they always considered her a member of the group. She realizes that she was always loved, just not in the conventional way. Through the Ya-Yas’ attitudes of loyalty and courage, Sidda finds the strength to accept love into her own life.