Kidd closed her speech by drawing on her most famous novel. In 'The Secret Life of Bees,' the character August Boatright tells the motherless runaway Lily about the black Madonna statue: 'She's not some magical being out there, like a fairy godmother. She's something inside of you. When you're unsure of yourself, when you start pulling back into small living and into doubt, she's the one inside of you saying, Get up from there and be the glorious girl you are.' Kidd admitted she became a novelist by jumping in over her head, by erring on the side of audacity, and urged the Scripps graduates to do the same — to find a purpose grand enough for their lives and to come down on the side of boldness.