Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Vivi is Sidda’s mother and one of the four Ya-Yas. She took on the title of the “Mistress of Legend” at the Ya-Ya initiation ceremony and told the story of the tribe’s origins, which is proof of her intelligence and creativity. At the start of the novel, Vivi and Sidda have fallen out because Sidda has given an interview for a newspaper in which she criticizes her mother’s parenting, and the newspaper article describes Vivi as a “tap-dancing child abuser” (1). The rest of the novel unpacks this statement and shows the circumstances of Vivi’s breakdown, due to which she hit her children and neglected them. Sidda starts at a place of anger and resentment toward Vivi, but she grows to understand and forgive her mother.

Vivi’s initial reaction to Sidda’s interview is to cut her out of her life; however, as soon as she knows that Sidda is suffering professional and personal problems, Vivi immediately wants to help her daughter, which shows The Significance of Mother-Daughter Bonds. While Vivi continues to drink a large amount of alcohol,  her substance use disorder was most pronounced when her children were young. She remembers her lowest point, recalling that she “went over the edge years ago, and lived to tell the tale” (19). While Sidda sees her as a neglectful parent, Vivi sees herself as a survivor who lived through many challenges. As Sidda comes to understand more about her mother’s past and her troubles, the relationship between them grows stronger.

Vivi’s name, which as a child Sidda thought came from “vivacious,” is a testament to her strength and ability to survive significant trials. As a child, Vivi was “a big woman in a little woman’s body” (41), and she was always taking on the world. She has a love for drama, both on and offscreen, and she passed this on to her daughter. Sidda describes her mother as being “at the mercy of the myth” of the South (113), largely because of the influence that the movie Gone with the Wind had on Vivi as a child. In her youth, Vivi’s parents treated her cruelly and she also lost her first love to World War II. All of this shaped the person she became.

Vivi created the Divine Secrets scrapbook and gave it to Sidda in the hopes that learning about her past would help her daughter understand Vivi’s actions, and thereby move past her own fears. She also included an old key which reminded Sidda of the day her mother helped her conquer her fears. When her children were little, Vivi left her family twice; the first time, she left due to frustration and exhaustion; and the second time, she had been wrongly prescribed hallucinogenic drugs and was having a psychiatric crisis. While Vivi was exhausted by motherhood and the demands of family, she nevertheless loved her children and was grateful for them. She and Sidda come to understand and forgive one another in the novel’s conclusion.

Teensy is one of the four Ya-Yas and the most outspoken and unabashed of the bunch. She was deemed the “Mistress of Dance” at the Ya-Ya initiation ceremony. She is forthright and domineering. At one point, she tells Vivi that she’d better talk to Sidda or Teensy will do it for her.

As a child, Teensy was always taking her clothes off, wanting to feel totally free and unencumbered. As an adult, she often did stripteases while drunk, even if the children were around. Teensy was beautiful, with “jet-black hair” and a wild, untamable spirit (38). She came from a wealthy family and grew up with maids, just like the other Ya-Yas. Even at 70, Teensy sips on cocktails while driving, showing that she still enjoys fun and risk. Teensy’s brother, Jack, was Vivi’s first love, and Teensy’s mother was like a second mother to the other Ya-Yas. She was supportive, brave, and a comforting presence until Jack died. Along with the other Ya-Yas, Teensy is always there to support Vivi and Sidda, and she is filled with warmth, love, and humor.

Caro is one of the four Ya-Yas. She was deemed the “Mistress of Fire” at the Ya-Ya ritual because she brought the wood. Caro was always outspoken and unafraid to be herself, and Sidda was inspired by Caro’s Bohemian fashion sense while she was growing up. Caro is Sidda’s godmother, and Sidda often turns to her for help.

In her old age, Caro uses an oxygen tank after decades of smoking and developing emphysema. Her ragged cough characterizes her speech. Caro wants to see peace between Vivi and Sidda; she is the one who urges Vivi to give Sidda the scrapbook. While Caro is always honest, she never judges the actions of her friends and family. She did not judge Vivi for hitting her children while she was having a mental health crisis, and she remains friends with her husband who divorced her to be with a man.

Necie is one of the four Ya-Yas. Of the four, she is the most traditional one, but she can usually be coaxed into following whatever the other Ya-Yas are doing. Necie is the quietest in the group, but still as essential as the other members. She is the most maternal, too, and it shows in the photo where she is the only pregnant Ya-Ya who is not smoking and drinking. Necie is also the only Ya-Ya to have long hair at a time when most women had short hair. She is bashful, and as a child, she had to be coaxed into going nude or joining the other Ya-Yas as they broke rules.

Necie was deemed the “Mistress of Refreshments” at the Ya-Ya ritual because she was always ready with baked goods—often far more than anyone needed. Necie did not attend the Gone with the Wind premiere, but this provided the perfect opportunity for Vivi to send letters and document the experience. When Vivi was sent to boarding school, Necie wrote to her and expressed the Ya-Yas’ sisterly love: “Oh, Vivi, we are so torn up, like part of our own body just got ripped away” (198).

Connor McGill is Sidda’s fiancé. He and Sidda met at the theater and relate over their shared love of it. Connor has a calm and effortless presence that Sidda admires and finds deeply attractive. He is comforting and warm, and almost never upset. Connor is “forty-five years old, fit, agile, light on his feet” (8), and he and Sidda make love often. When Sidda decides she needs to postpone the wedding and spend time on her own, Connor is hurt but takes the decision extremely well; he does not become upset or try to bargain with her. Instead, Connor simply allows Sidda the time she needs and writes her the occasional love letter. Connor’s love and the sexual chemistry between him and Sidda is a powerful motivator for Sidda to free herself of her fears and hesitations to embrace a life with him. At the novel’s conclusion, they marry in Shep’s sunflower field, surrounded by their friends and family.

Shep Walker is Vivi’s husband. He is an introverted and withdrawn man most of the time, and Vivi expresses anger toward him for always abandoning her when the children were little. Shep was never abusive and always patient with Vivi, but he often disappeared when life became difficult, usually retreating into the woods to hunt ducks or into the fields to tend his plants. In essence, “Shep loved his children; he loved his wife. But he knew a lot more about farming and duck hunting than he did about being part of a family” (166). In this way, he exemplifies men of his generation who were handy with chores but expected their wives to manage the children.

When Vivi was at her lowest point, struggling with her substance use disorder and the responsibilities of parenting four children, Shep was often absent. When he was home, he didn’t know quite how to handle what was going on. When he took Vivi to the psychiatric hospital, he defended her as an upstanding woman and demanded she be treated well. Shep was never vocal about his emotions, but in his older age he plants 300 acres of sunflowers. The act shocks even Vivi, who is certain he did it simply for the sake of beauty. It is at this sunflower field that Sidda marries Connor.

Vivi’s parents, Buggy and Taylor Abbott, abused and traumatized her. Buggy was a devout Catholic and she was severely neglected by her husband, who spent most of his time alone and showed no interest in his wife or children. Buggy threw herself into her religion and her gardening, and one of Sidda’s most precious memories of her grandmother is the massive, beautiful flower gardens she used to grow. On Vivi’s 16th birthday, her father throws her a lavish party and gifts Vivi a diamond ring. Buggy is immediately jealous and insinuates that there must be sexual attraction between Vivi and Taylor; she tries to take the ring away from Vivi. The Ya-Yas witness the level of violent abuse between Vivi’s parents as Taylor shoves Buggy into the bedroom and forces her to return the ring. Buggy’s response to all of this is to send Vivi away from home to a Catholic boarding school, where Vivi is further abused and driven to illness. Despite this, Vivi never hated her mother and missed her while she was away. When Vivi grew up and had children, Buggy became an important source of support in her life.