The Lovely Bones: Overcoming Grief
Overcoming grief is more than a theme in the book “The Lovely Bones,” written by Alice Sebold; it is something we all, as humans, have had to experience. In “The Lovely Bones,” the occurrence of Susie’s death caused her family, her friends, and even herself to become overwhelmed with great anguish. Whether it be running from it, dwelling on it, drowning it out, or living through someone else, each character has a different way of handling their problem. When it comes to “fight or flight,” Susie’s mother, Abigail, choses flight. After Abigail and Jack, Susie’s father, are informed of Susie’s death, she begins to act differently. From having an affair, to leaving her family and her life, she does everything possible to escape the situation she’s in. When Susie saw her mother with Len she knew what was happening. Susie says, “She (her mother) needed Len to drive the dead daughter out” (Sebold 152). She finally returns home to her family after many years, which is when she will begin to let go of her heartache and of Susie. Although the book itself is about the death of Susie Salmon, her friends and family aren’t the only ones who grieve because of it. Susie herself also grieves
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This small action will forever change Ruth’s life. Her life will begin to go downhill as she begins drinking alcohol and doing drugs, though they won’t help her grieving end. Even as she gets older, Ruth doesn’t ever let go of Susie. When Susie saw Ruth in the cornfield, she says “there was no longer anything I could do. Ruth had been a girl haunted and now she would be a woman haunted. First by accident and now by choice” (Sebold 321). Unlike the others, Ruth will never actually overcome her sorrow. Susie says Ruth “wanted everyone to believe what she knew: that the dead truly talk to us, that in the air between the living, spirits bob and weave and laugh with us” (Sebold
“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,
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
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.
... She comforts the Wilsons, feeds the starving nameless faces when she barely has enough for her own family, works together with the Wainwrights, and as the novel closes she is still directing her assistance to those who are in need any way she can, by helping the starving man and taking control of the situation. She feels that as long as she can hold on to some part of the family, she will see to it that they keep on going.
Ruth is a character whom Susie has not interacted with much while she was living, but in heaven, they felt a special connection. “it’s strange the memories you keep . . . [Susie] remember[s] the girl . . . , Ruth Connors. The kids at [her] school said that she was weird, but now [Susie] know[s] she saw things that others didn’t” (221). In a short moment before Susie is brought to heaven, her soul touches Ruth Conners, an experience which ruth describes as dreamlike, unforgettable. Ruth and Susie seem to be counterparts, one on Earth and one on heaven. In contrast, though, Susie wishes desperately to return to Earth, while Ruth hopes to explore heaven. As the novel progresses, however, Ruth understands that there is no use in attempting to change the past. It was when Ruth and Susie’s souls exchanged that she realizes this truth. When Ruth’s soul was in heaven, she speaks to all the women that were murdered, helping her gain understanding of the link between the dead and the living. Later, Ruth continues to do what she loves to do: investigate crimes and the dead. She moves to New York City, and applies her second sight to help others instead of dwelling on Susie’s death. Clearly, Ruth, as Susie’s earthly counterpart, is able to move on to a better life when Susie loses her connection between them.
...in her character during her stay at the hospital. Susie realizes that her patient is afraid of dying and thus she comforts her as she weeps and makes her feel loved.
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
... is reminiscing about the fact that she messed up and it cost the boy’s life. The overall tone in the end of the novel is depressing as the governess’s actions and attitudes about current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation.
Veronica Roth’s book demonstrates, in a few key ways, how great literature must include life lessons. The story teaches readers to never give up and to push on even in hard and rough times of struggle. Beatrice prior (Tris), the protagonist in the book, leaves her home to live with the danger seeking “Dauntless”. During the evil plot set by the antagonist, Beatrice’s mother gets fatally wounded by a gun shot. Tris watches this horrible moment unfold right next to her as her mother lifelessly crumbles to the ground. Beatrice loves her mother very much and doesn’t want to leave her body there, but knows she has to uncover the strength to move onwards. Not only was Beatrice brave after witnessing the death of her mother but her mother was also brave. Beatrice’s mother was also brave, having to die like that for her people, sacrificing herself for her daughter and family. Beatrice shows how she feels about her mother’s braver when she says,” My mother’s death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn’t just that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, wi...
With all the recent events that have occurred in Mabel’s life she truly believes that this is the end for herself; “mindless and persistent, she seemed in a sort of ecstasy to be coming nearer to her fulfillment, her own glorification, approaching her dead mother, who was glorified” (Lawrence 705). Mabel walks down to the cemetery where her mother lays at rest because Mabel is feeling alone and wants that sense of security. Mabel’s depression causes her to believe that “the life she follow[s] here in the world was far less real than the world of death she inherited from her mother” (Lawrence 706). All of these dark thoughts and memories of a life with her mother running through Mabel’s head lead to her finally giving up on her life and walking into a dreary pond to try to drown herself and end her life.
Jack Salmon, Susie’s father, is most vocal about his sorrow for losing his daughter. However, his initial reaction was much different. Upon hearing that Susie’s ski hat had been found, he immediately retreats upstairs because “he [is] too devastated to reach out to [Abigail] sitting on the carpet…he could not let [her] see him” (Sebold 32). Jack retreats initially because he did not know what to do or say to console his family and he did not want them to see him upset. This first reaction, although it is small, is the first indicator of the marital problems to come. After recovering from the initial shock, Jack decides that he must bring justice for his daughter’s sake and allows this goal to completely engulf his life. He is both an intuitive and instrumental griever, experiencing outbursts of uncontrolled emotions then channeling that emotion into capturing the killer. He focuses his efforts in such an e...
To the characters of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Gwilan’s Harp”, Isaac Singer’s “The Washwoman”, and O. Henry (Sydney Porter)’s “The Last Leaf”, loss is a familiar burden. Whether they experience loss of material things, or people they hold dear, all of the characters from these stories have felt loss’s unwelcome touch on their shoulders. Most of the tragedy occurs, however, when a major character dies. In “The Washwoman”, the aptly named washwoman dies from, presumably, old age.
The irony of the story is that her husband is alive, but she is dead when he reaches home. The tragic death of her husband help her to grasp the beauty of life and the fact that she does not have much more time to live it. In an hour of time she comes to peace with herself and wins her "battle".
During some point any many lives, someone had lost a loved one and weren’t sure how to properly mourn for them. Their death led to a path of agony and despair for the living that can’t handle to feel as their emotions died as well. It’s always hard to accept that the one you love is gone, but reality takes a stab at you telling you to wake up. In Emily Dickinson’s “After Great Pain” piece, she examines the series of steps every person has gone through now or in the future.