Loss In The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

963 Words2 Pages

Tragedy Strikes Home Many people experience grief when they lose a loved one. Each individual deals with grief in a different manner; when someone passes away, one feels upset, angry, and/or guilty, these are all common emotions. When losing a loved one, the process of recovery can be very difficult, especially if it is a tragic one. There can also be positive things when death occurs. Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones could be read as a study in transformation caused by a tragic event. Fourteen year old Susie Salmon, the main character, is murdered by her neighbour Mr. Harvey. Susie watches in heaven over her grief-stricken family as well as her killer. Author Alice Sebold demonstrates that the effect of loss can also lead to positivity, …show more content…

Her death tears her family apart, but then they unite together shown through Susie’s parents, Abigail and Jack. Susie’s father, Jack, is a loving father who knows the truth of his daughter’s murder, but struggles to find any sort of proof. Jack says to Lindsey after he strongly believes that Mr. Harvey is the killer; “There is no doubt in my mind [....] “no evidence” is all they can say”(164). While Abigail is a very complicated woman who has rebelled against her family, abandoning them to go to California, Jack asks Abigail “Hey ocean eyes [...] Where’d you go on us”(221). Jack becomes consumed of trying to find Susie’s killer, but instead results in his knee injury and ruined marriage which promptly makes Abigail leave her family. Jack’s heart attack immediately brings Abigail back home, she makes amends with her family, and forgets about the past. She reconnects with Jack and both realize the love they have for one another. He says to her while on the hospital bed “I fell in love with you again; While you were away”(283). Susie’s death affects her parents both deeply, but they overcome Susie’s death and realize the amount of love they have for one another. Susie’s death serves as unity in her parents

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast The Lovely Bones

    288 Words  | 1 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat Talking about the culture brought throughout this book, you’re looking at Latin American culture, specifically the Dominican/Haitian cultures. As I read this book, beyond the many numerous ways she worded her sentences and how the characters spoke, they often spoke with a definant difference than you would hear here in common U.S. language. They would constantly use inferences to what they were talking about, rather than being direct to what they were saying. Things like, “they say we are the burnt crud at the bottom of the pot.” –Amabelle, this is Amabelle talking to her lover, Sebastian, about how there’s talk about the field workers and the housemaids to the Dominicans, and them being “nothing”, inferring that they are poorer than the Dominicans.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold Books

    2019 Words  | 5 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones Figurative Language

    1896 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Death In The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones Susie Salmon Character Analysis

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    The unimaginable thought, yet the inevitable conclusion, to life is death. Everyone wonders what happens when we pass away but there is no way of knowing for sure. People come into this world with a life sentence, but don’t know when, where, how, or why they die. In thinking about the end of life, the last thing someone often imagines is being murdered. Susie Salmon found this out the hard way. Susie Salmon, a character in The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, was raped and murdered at the age of fourteen by a neighbor. Susie, who is narrating from heaven, watches over her loved ones, including her father, mother, sister, and grandmother. Susie’s character is difficult to understand and a devastating story to even consider. She provides a different perspective on Earthly happenings, and on how the dead and the living interact. Susie is essentially “living” life after death.

    Read More

  • How Does Alice Sebold Use Symbols In The Lovely Bones

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    In ‘The Lovely Bones’ by Alice Sebold, the way one dies, their desires, needs, and qualities possessed ALL affect the way their Heaven will be like when they die. The protagonist, Susie Salmon, had died young and violently, and was struggling to come to terms with her own death. She even expresses that her biggest wish is that she were alive and her killer were dead. Susie starts to become obsessed with the living world, often living vicariously through other people such as her younger sister Lindsey Salmon, or watching them incessantly. Susie’s struggle to accept her own death is vital to her character development. She starts off as a dreamy, innocent girl, but once she recognizes that she truly has died, she is able to

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character I choose from the novel Lovely Bones is Mr. Harvey. His role in this novel was that he is a serial Killer. What is a serial killer? A serial killer is someone that killed more than three people over a period more than a month. Mr. Harvey killed Susie the main character in this novel. He rapped her, and cut her body up, and packaged it, and drove 8 miles and dumped it in a sinkhole.. Mr. Harvey doesn't really have a family. His dad abandons his mom after the argument that they next to the car in the streets over truth and consequences in Mexico. His mom was desperate that she taught him how to steal and shoplift. We know that his father was an abusive person. He also taught him about buildings. We know that Mr. Harvey’s life and Susie’s are the not exactly the same. In fact we know its the total opposite. Mr. Harvey never know what love is, since his father was abusive and his mother was a thief. Susie always had a loving family. Her dad and mom loved her and was overly protective.

    Read More

  • Human Relationships In The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.” The relationships we have with other people are projections of the relationships we have within ourselves. There are many different types of human relationships including friendships, sibling relationships, couples relationships, parent relationships, and professional relationships. Every personal relationship is unique because each relationship satisfies a different void in the happiness of an individual. Relationships with parents are centred on love and acceptance, whereas professional relationships are focused on performance and achievements. Human relationships enable people to establish a sense of belonging in society to experience love and acceptance. Furthermore, relationships dictate the emotions and behaviours of individuals as people strive to develop a self-identity to identify their purpose for living. Ultimately, human relationships allow people to find contentment and achieve happiness. The novel, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold explores human relationships with Susie Salmon and Mr. Harvey. There is a distinction between the ways that both characters act that show construction and destruction. There are several different types of beneficial relationships that the novel discusses that impact the characters; however, Susie’s relationships with her family, strangers, friends, and herself are more constructive than Mr. Harvey’s relationships with his family, strangers, friends, and himself.

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    Visualize a world where a significant person in your life died from one’s gruesome desire, where that special someone suffered and became a victim of a cruel, mysterious murder. Was the murder itself quick or was it revolting and brutal? Susie Salmon was a victim of a crime that should not be forgiven. In the novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Susie’s past on earth affected people that took part in her life because the past was all that they had of her. Memories of or with Susie were treasured; however, they were also feared by the one who killed Susie’s future.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Memory Keeper's Daughter And The Lovely Bones

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards, and Alice Seabold’s The Lovely Bones, both similarly explore the ways in which grief influences and ultimately structures the lives of their central characters. Although the authors utilise vastly disparate situations, Edwards and Seabold both depict the development of their families in response to the demise of a relative. Through the progressive transformation of their protagonists, the major themes are exposed to reveal how their struggle inflicts their future and the surrounding characters. The role of grief is established to determine how individuals seek closure through a variety of demeanours, in that the central couples exhibit dishonesties and cheating as a consequence of their loss. A

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones Film Analysis

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the film, The Lovely Bones, the viewer catches a glimpse of how successful the movie is in portraying the theme of death. Though, the film is different in a few ways, one way being when Susie mentions all of Mr. Harvey’s victims.

    Read More

  • Dealing With Grief In The Lovely Bones

    1807 Words  | 4 Pages

    The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with their grief differently, there is one common denominator: the reaction of one affects all.

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones Research Paper

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Lovely Bones is a well known fiction thrilling movie that has several themes that include love, grief, family, time, unity, mortality, and death, although out of all of those themes the theme of time connects the story of The Lovely Bones together. Life is so valuable and fragile and it makes us question what is the purpose of life and whether we live it to the fullest or not we must continue to live it like it’s our last. The passing of time affects every aspect of an individual’s life and it can make life seem so valuable and it makes us question if we have enough of it. Although, we should not dwell on that idea and continue living life to the fullest no matter what circumstance it’s under.

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones Short Story

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is inevitable. Amy Bloom, author of “By-and-By”, starts her short story by saying that “every death is violent.” Very much resembling this story, The Lovely Bones follows a young teenage girl who is abducted by death, due to a gruesome man with a thirst for death. It is in both stories that parallel in the antagonists and the story itself can be seen. It is for that reason that this short story compares with The Lovely Bones.

    Read More

More about Loss In The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

Open Document