The Lovely Bones’s combination of themes work together to expose the raw emotion of a family in pain over the death of a precious loved one. The first and most significant theme to be presented in the novel is that of mortality. Throughout the novel, as Susie looks back over her violent death and its effects on her family, she makes a point that when someone dies, that person's desires and needs pass over with them into the afterlife (Thomas). For example, from watching her sister and Ruth Connor, she realizes that the concept of love is something she still wishes she could have, even in heaven. Her sister Lindsey meets a boy by the name of Samuel, and Ruth grows closer to Susie's first real crush, Ray Singh. These observations by Susie almost …show more content…
According to a website created through Weebly, the anonymous author points out that there were several descriptive forms of imagery used during the first few chapters. One example the author utilized from the book was Susie's description of her own personal heaven (Style & Figurative Language); she described it as, "...large, squat buildings spread out on dismally landscaped sandy lots, with overhangs and open spaces to make them feel more modern" (Sebold 16). Sebold used descriptive language in order to paint a picture in the reader's mind of what heaven looked like through Susie's eyes; after further analysis, the reader can conclude that Susie's heaven resembled the town she used to live in back on Earth. Another example used by the author of the website was when Susie described her murderer, George Harvey (Style & Figurative Language); she states, "...he wore his own innocence like a comfortable old coat" (Sebold 26), and "...as his consciousness woke, it was as if poison seeped in" (Sebold, 58). The author used these examples of imagery to highlight how Mr. Harvey denied his own guilt and appeared unbothered with the knowledge that he was a murderer; in reference to the quote from page 26, the reader can tell by its description that Mr. Harvey was a cowardly man who wore a mask in order …show more content…
An example of a flashback, taken from another article written on Weebly, is in the first few chapters of the book when Susie thinks back to her relationship with Ray. With the help of the flashback, the reader is able to see the relationship between the two and its relevance to Susie's present life after death. Ray was listed as a suspect to Susie's murder because the police found a love note of his in her notebook. However, at that moment, she travels back into her memories to when she first spent time alone with Ray, skipping class in the auditorium (Structure, Culture & Point of View). She knew he was a kind boy whose only crime was harboring an innocent crush on her, much like how she held the same kind of feelings for him. She saw him sitting above the stage on the scaffold, and when they made eye contact, she asked him what he was doing up there. Ray replied, ¨Climb up and see,¨ and so she did (Sebold 75). She recalls sitting next to him chatting, and next thing she knew, he was leaning in to kiss her. She described the moment stating, ¨His lips moved closer, the scaffold listed. I was dizzy --- about to go under the wave of my first kiss when we both heard something. We froze.¨ (Sebold 75). With that, the story progresses to how
There a lot of literary devices used in the excerpt from All the Pretty Horses that convey the true meaning in the scene. The hallway the man walks in has portraits of his ancestors whom he vaguely knows. This is connected to the present day when the man who he has gone to see now is also dead. The paragraph also uses figurative language like “yellowed moustache” and eyelids that are “paper thin” to tell us that the man he went to see is dead. The next sentence following that says “That was not sleeping. That was not sleeping.” putting emphasis on how the man in front of him isn’t sleeping and is truly dead. It also references the way that death is associated with sleep and called the long sleep. The excerpt also mentioned that the man is
“The Lovely Bones” is a book written by Alice Sebold. It was published in 2002, and it’s about Susie Salmon, a girl that was murdered and no watches her family and murderer from her own heaven. She tries to balance her feeling and watch out for her family since her murderer is still free and with nobody knowing how dangerous he is. In 2009, a movie adapted from the book came out as well.
In the story of The Lovely Bones there were differences between the movie and the book. The first point is in the book, Susie's heaven had Franny as her mentor, but in the movie in Susie heaven there was no mention of a person named Franny. The second point is that Jack had a heart attack in the book, but he did not have one in the movie. The Third point is that Ruth moved to New York in the book, but in the movie she was still a teenager in her hometown of Pennsylvania were
Poetry conveys emotions and ideas through words and lines. Long Way Down gives the story about a boy named Will, who wants to avenge his brother. He believes that a guy named Riggs killed his brother. He takes his brother’s gun and leaves his family’s apartment on the eighth floor. On the way down the elevator, he is stopped at each floor and a ghost from his past gets on.
Death: the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism. It is scientific. Straight down to the facts. Something is born, it lives, and it dies. The cycle never stops. But what toll does death take on those around it? The literary world constantly attempts to answer this vital question. Characters from a wide realm of novels experience the loss of a loved one, and as they move on, grief affects their every step. In The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, the roles of Lindsey, Abigail, and Ruth all exhibit the effect of dealing with death over time; the result is a sizable amount of change which benefits a person’s spirit.
This line from the “short story,” The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time reveals that the narrator has a close parent, is very formal and straightforward, doesn’t like hugging people, and knows that they’re loved. Diction in this particular situation is fairly odd because the sentence looks intended to be emotional, but instead turns on quite regular and bland. The vague pronouns “we... me...I...it...he”(16) suggest that the writer doesn’t care about extravagant pronouns and would much rather get straight down to the point than perfect the use of ablatives. Along with the vague pronouns, an extreme lack of adjectives shows that our narrator wants to continue with the trend of plain sailing. Using words like “Father”(16) exhibit a
Over the past few years the world has became full of atrocious and bloodthirsty people. With social media, it gives the world an anonymous passageway to tear people down and tell them they're not good enough. With all the hate crimes and prejudice concepts, people lose focus on what's truly important. Naomi Shihab Nye portrayed this message through her poem “Shoulders,” which explains that people can't not live in a world without lending a helping hand. People need to help one another and not push people down when they just got up. Without assistance from others, would there really be a human race? This poem expresses the need to help others, through imagery, figurative language, and alliteration.
In chapter 23 of the novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech the author uses figurative language to describe the Badlands of South Dakota. When comparing the author’s vivid imagery to actual images of the Badlands it is surprising how accurate her description is. “It was as if someone had ironed out all the rest of South Dakota and smooshed all the hills and valleys and rocks into this spot. Right smack in the middle of flat plains were jagged peaks and steep gorges.” Photos of the area do show flat grassy plains surrounding tall jagged mountain ranges. I can’t tell if you could actually “stand right on the edge of the gorges and see down.” However, it does seem possible.
For example, while Susie helplessly watches her father get assaulted, and all she can do is blow out the candle in her father’s den. She describes her feelings as wanting her father “ to go away and leave [Susie] be. [She] was granted one weak grace. Back in the room where the green chair was still warm from his body, [Susie] blew that lonely, flickering candle out” (159). The candle symbolizes Susie’s inability to be present with the living, and it represents that all she can do for them is something as insignificant as blowing out a candle This can be frustrating for Susie who cares for and loves her father. To see that she can do nothing to help him in a situation where he’s in danger can fuel her obsession with the living. In addition, Susie describes her heaven to be a place between Earth and Heaven, also known as purgatory, but Susie calls it the ‘Inbetween’. This place is the “thick blue line separated the air and ground an Inbetween, where heaven’s horizon met Earth’s.” (38) in her brother, Buckley Salmon’s, drawing. She is stuck in the Inbetween, and can not move forward from her death nor move onto her actual Heaven. Lastly, Susie talks about “the lovely bones that had grown around [her] absence: the connections - sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent” (363). The
The Lovely Bones doesn’t perfectly fit the rules of the tragedy but there is only a few minor differences. But Susie displays all the characteristics of a tragic hero because of her tragic flaw and where the tragedy become inevitable. The film does follow the plot structure of an Aristotelian Tragedy to a degree however it wasn’t practical for the setting of the movie. Since the main character is a child, she could not have realized the faults of her ways because most children don’t until they are older. This film is modernized version of a tragedy that fits with the setting of the
Throughout The Lovely Bones and Speak Alice Sebold and Jessica Sharzer respectively express the emotional journeys and boundaries faced by their characters. Both authors explore this idea through the restriction of their protagonist; however, they both express their journeys with the help of a secondary character. Different approaches are used by the authors, Sebold tells the story from the past whereas Sharzer provides a day-by-day diary of the emotional journey faced by Melinda. Both use the conclusion of their texts to heighten their characters emotional journeys. Sharzer’s ending provides a sense of relief and triumph, and Sebold creates a sense of happiness and acceptance. Aided by devices, notably symbolism, metaphors, narrative technique, stream of consciousness, editing techniques and imagery, Sebold and Sharzer endeavour to demonstrate the emotional journeys faced by their characters.
Susies alienation gave the family a common loss they each shared which drove the story’s plot. The reader then benefits from susie's all-knowing perspective where they can analyze each of the characters as they try to come with susie's death. This book helps people sift through the inevitable loss that almost every person has to go through at some point in their lives. For those that are living, death is so hard to overcome and pass through. Heaven is merely the safehaven for those who have passed but never a place of easy resolution at first for those alive. In The Lovely Bones, Susie saw her dog and danced with her Grandfather while she had to look down as her father smashed the bottles, mom slept with Len, and Ruth drifted away as she watched Susie's picture. With this, Susie was alienated from her family, isolated in heaven, while her life was being
Throughout the book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien uses a plethora of figurative language to help the reader understand and relate to the events occuring. One very effective use of figurative language is when Tolkien wrote, “The change in the wizard’s voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone” (Tolkien 277). This use of a simile show the reader how dramatically Galdor’s voice changed. When the author compared Galdor’s voice to stone with a simile,the reader can understand that his voice is strong and powerful. With this use of figurative language, it can help the reader imagine Galdor’s voice to make the story feel more realistic. Another time that Tolkien used figurative language is when he wrote,“They
The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, is narrated by the main character, Susie Salmon.This adds a sense of perspective to the story as each event is read from Susie’s point of view. When Susie is murdered, each of the other characters in the novel evolve to accept the death. Susie, who is in her heaven, does not develop new characteristics beyond those she already possesses. Susie’s father, Jack Salmon, faces many difficulties throughout the novel. With each challenge, Jack attains new characteristics.
The genre is “fiction, a supernatural thriller, and a bildungsroman” (Key Facts, 1). The Lovely Bones is written in first person. The novel is said to be complex, a distant place, and then a time of grieving from a loss of an innocent child who was murdered (Guardian, 1). The view of Heaven presented in The Lovely Bones is where you do not have to worry about anything, you get what you want, and understand why you want it. In this novel, Suzie teaches her family what she had learned from her life. The climax of the novel is when Suzie is able to achieve her dream to grow up when Heaven allows her to inhabit Ruth’s body and then make love Ray (Key Facts, 1). One fact about the novel The Lovely Bones is that the beginning of the book is famous for its intense descriptions on Suzie Salmon’s rape that she had to endure. It has been said from many people that The Lovely Bones is the most successful novel since Gone with the Wind (Spring, 1). The Lovely Bones was on the best-seller lists for several months in 2002 (Alice,