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…
make her feel jealous for not being given the same chance to explore herself in such a way that a young teen should. However, with being able to experience these desires through watching her family and friends, Susie is able to observe what true mortality is for her loved ones still living on earth. Through this, Susie is able to eventually accept her spiritual plane of existence. The novel contrasts a gory, unpleasant death with a peaceful, enlightening vision of the afterlife. The second most meaningful theme within the novel that goes hand-in-hand with the concept of mortality is that of love, both familial and romantic. Aside from watching young love blossom between Lindsey and Samuel, and observing the strange love triangle between herself, Ruth, and Ray, she is also exposed to the more unpleasant aspects of romance. Her mother Abigail seemingly falls in love with Detective Len Fenerman, the man who was in charge of Susie's case. However, their affair was never one built from legitimate love, which Susie realizes after watching her mother leave both her family and Len behind for New York. The affair was a method of coping for her mother to temporarily forget the loss of her daughter, lust being a decent distraction, that is, until it wasn't (Younger). Yet, the concept of familial love sprouts from the ashes of her parents broken love as the members of her family finally move on from prioritizing the mourning of Susie's death. Her mother comes back from New York in order to visit her husband at the hospital; in that same hospital room is where their love reconnects, now stronger than ever having been through so much pain and suffering. Susie, after observing her family find strength within the bonds they have with each other, realizes that she'll always be a part of their hearts, just like they will always be a part of hers. A key element used within the novel that contributes to the presence of it's themes is the concept of time and how it affects both Susie and her loved ones. Susie's concept of time is greatly expanded as she witnesses earthly events from a separate spiritual plane. She not only sees time as a way to keep track of the days, but she sees it as a separate entity that keeps track of each member of her family individually. In a sense, she grasps the concept that everyone lives by their own clocks, seconds ticking away until a newer concept of time is revealed in the afterlife (Shmoop Editorial Team). Although Susie is essentially frozen in time up in her personal heaven, she watches it pass for her family. She watches them grow older, more mature, and, most importantly, she watches them grow into their own, finding their strength to carry on even after losing a loved one. Watching time pass from the sidelines isn't the most invigorating experience, but it's one that makes Susie wiser and more mature herself; in that sense, she does some growing on her own even though time is not the same for her as it is on earth. Therefore, the events that happened and continue to happen on Earth are seemingly far from her yet also seemingly close in time (Shmoop Editorial Team). The element of time is also utilized in the novel through the concept of materialistic objects and the memories they produce. One of the more common examples of this is the presence of photographs in the story. Photographs serve to capture and preserve moments from the past so they can be looked back upon by those in the present. For Susie's family, looking back at old photographs of their daughter allows them to relive the moments they had with her; the reactivated memories serve to keep her alive in their hearts (Shmoop Editorial Team). Another example of time captured through material objects is found in the family's discovery of Susie's personal possessions. When they discover her hat, it gives them hope that she may still be out there; at this point, they were only aware that she was missing, not necessarily that she had been murdered. In contrast to the end of the novel when her charm bracelet is discovered, they know she is gone, but the charm bracelet is one of their most cherished mementos they have of her; it held not one but several memories of her. It meant a lot to her mother especially, who Susie described, “...had been the one who knew the meaning of every charm on my bracelet – where we had gotten it and why I like it. She made a meticulous list of what I'd carried and worn" (Sebold 47). According to an article on Enotes, the knowledge that Susie’s mother knew every intimate meaning of each charm was significant to the bond between the mother and daughter (Rreitmeyer123). It was an accessory that Susie always wore, and it's symbolic in the sense that the more that time passed, the more that charms were added to the bracelet; therefore, the more memories that were shared between her and her family. Overall, the concept of time is one that displays how remembering and reminiscing over the death of a loved one, through memories or physical objects, can connect to the present existence of those no longer on earth. Throughout the entirety of the novel, Alice Sebold's style of writing includes several forms of figurative language; one of the most prominent forms being her extensive use of imagery.
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…
to hide the truth of his dark deeds. Furthermore, from what can be gathered from the first few chapters, Sebold's style is both articulate and descriptive, allowing the reader to easily understand what is being described by her adept imagery. Through a chronological structure, Sebold enhances the readers experience with her extensive usage of flashbacks, Sebold is able to slowly build the plots development, going back in forth between past and present, until it reaches it's close.
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
she met childhood acquaintance Ruth; with a seamless transition, another relevant character is introduced to the story. Furthermore, Sebold's chronological structure, with the obvious exception of relevant flashbacks, helps to display a seamless transition between past and present information relating to Susie in the afterlife. Looking back with Susie at the memories she recalls allows the reader to understand the necessary background information for the progressing development of the story's plot. In conclusion, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, should be recognized as a novel of high literary merit. With personal connections to the author herself, Sebold is able to write with both genuine emotion and realism; having experienced the trauma of being raped, her goal with this book was both to bring awareness and show the world that they can find the light in the darkness, no matter how bad the situation; life goes on, the world keeps spinning. In correlation to her personal ties to novel, Sebold was able to engage the reader with qualitative character development of Susie, her family, and her friends. She was also able to engage the reader with symbolic themes of mortality and love, which went hand-in-hand with her unique perspective on time as a literary element. Lastly, she was able to incorporate descriptive writing style with vivid imagery, and an organized structure which highlighted both the past and present of Susie's life. With this novel, Sebold not only reached a level of literary excellence, but of universality that allows all people to both empathize and understand the emotions expressed within the novel. Even without all of that, to be able to talk about such a depressing topic, and give it an uplifting message is impressive in itself. The Lovely Bones is a novel in which Sebold used her own traumatic experiences to show the world that there is hope in times of hardship.
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.
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,
In this poem called “Creatures” by the author Billy Collins there are three examples of figurative language helps convey the meaning that the author Billy Collins is conveying. The three examples of figurative language that the author Billy Collins uses are a metaphor, enjambment, and imagery. These three examples of figurative language help illustrate Billy Collins” theme in this poem called “Creatures” that he is writing because these three examples of figurative language help emphasize the theme of the poem. These three examples help emphasize this poem called “Creatures” meaning because it makes the theme of this poem have a deeper meaning. The theme of the author Billy Collins poem called “Creatures” is that the reader has to imagine
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a magnificent menagerie of nearly every form of figurative language and continues to impress the millions who discover his work. The Hobbit is one of the greatest epitomes of sophisticated yet riveting work brought to life by utilizing similes, metaphors, imagery, and symbolism in the book. In each of his illustrious works, Tolkien bestows a particular personality and The Hobbit, especially, is no exception.
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.
Flashbacks are an interruption of an event or chronological sequence to insert past events or background context that relates to the current event. Flashbacks are important in the story to help the readers understand why the character or the character’s are doing
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.
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
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.
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 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
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.