The Lovely Bones Research Paper

Memoirs have the astonishing ability to portray experiences accurately and descriptively. Alice Sebold does this in her memoir Lucky. However, no amount of perfectly structured sentences can accomplish what a photograph can: freeze time and capture and preserve a specific instance. In The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, before getting brutally raped and murdered, Susie Salmon takes a keen interest in photography, wildlife in particular. Two photographs exist in the novel that play key roles in its development. The first, a picture of Abigail Salmon, Susie’s mother and the second, Susie’s school portrait from the year she gets killed. Both photographs become distinct symbols for the various characters in the book. By developing photography as

an essential role in The Lovely Bones, Sebold greatly enhances character development, which, in turn, reinforces the plotline.
For the duration of The Lovely Bones, photography manifests as an important factor in Susie’s life. She explains her love of photography when she states “I had rescued the moment by using my camera and in that way had found a way to stop time and hold it” (Sebold 212). On Susie’s eleventh birthday, she receives a camera, specifically an Instamatic. She uses her new camera to take a photo of a stranger: Abigail Salmon. When Susie sees Abigail that morning “[her] instinct is to photograph this woman she sees as being behind the label of ‘mom.’ However, this person, or at least her eyes, is ‘frightening’ to Susie; she is unnerved by the awareness that her mother has an independent identity” (Bliss). As time passes, it becomes evident that behind the veil of motherhood lies the unchallenged truth that Abigail wishes for freedom. Susie conserves her in her finest form, her labels as “the mother of the birthday girl, owner of the happy dog, wife to the loving man, and a mother again to another girl and a cherished boy” (Sebold 43). Susie’s acknowledgment of an individual that exists separate from her mother potentially foreshadows Abigail’s withdrawal from her family following Susie’s death. Through the photo reel, it becomes apparent that she feels burdened by her responsibilities. As a result of marriage and motherhood, Abigail loses her ability to pursue her dreams and in return, she longs for an escape from her family obligations. This longing painted from the photograph paves the path to her infidelity and ultimate departure.
In heaven, “Having dreamed of becoming a wildlife photographer, [Susie] turns her eye on the now foreign species of the living” (Evans).

She enjoys watching her family in the years following her death and one night, shortly after the confirmation of her death, Susie sees Lindsey creep into her room and find the photo of Abigail that she had hidden from the rest of the world. Similar to Susie, Lindsey is awestruck by her mother’s alternate persona, so much so that the photograph evokes a physical reaction. Susie observes, “A deep breath rushed out of her, and she sat down on the floor, her mouth still open and her hand still holding the picture” (Sebold 44). Although telling, Lindsey's attitude towards the photograph is not unprecedented, it is Jack Salmon’s reaction to the photograph that reveals the most. After Abigail leaves the family, Jack finds himself staring at the photos of her from the morning of Susie’s eleventh birthday. Slowly but surely, he falls back in love with her. Yet, as he sees the mask Abigail develops throughout the photos, he cannot help but think, “Did I do that to you?” (240). Instead of drowning in rage, Jack becomes engulfed in guilt, reaffirming his character as selfless, loving and painstakingly loyal. These character traits aid the reader in comprehending why he can love Abigail again and ultimately accept Susie’s

death.
The second major photograph discussed in The Lovely Bones is Susie’s school portrait from the year she died.

The photo has a different effect on the various people who possess it. For police officer Len Fenerman, the picture of Susie embodies guilt and failure. He keeps a copy of it in his wallet as well as in the evidence box at the station. Susie’s photo serves as a constant reminder that he allowed a murderer to slip away. However, overall the photograph “visually represents her missing body while also serving as a site of memorial” (Bliss). This holds true for Abigail and Ray Singh, Susie’s love interest. Abigail keeps Susie’s picture faced down in her wallet and does not look at it often. For Abigail, the photograph symbolizes her motherhood and viewing it makes her feel like Susie’s death acts as a punishment for never truly wanting a child. Towards the end of the novel, Abigail looks at the photograph for one last time, then leaves it next to a small sapling, beginning her personal road to acceptance. Unlike Len and Abigail, Ray almost forgets this picture over time and rediscovers it when he moves into his college dorm room. Her picture falls from a book of Indian poetry Ray’s mother had slipped into his bag and “Despite how he could dissect it . . . He could not avoid them, the lips he had once kissed” (Sebold 225). To Ray, the portrait signifies his first kiss, his first love and his lack of closure. The feeling Ray contracts at the photograph may also serve to

explain the purpose of the unusual sex scene that occurs between him and Susie. Neither Ray or Susie can escape the feeling of their first love and both characters need this closure in order to move on.
The photo of Abigail and Susie’s school portrait essentially serve as foils to each other. Abigail represents wildlife, her face described as “powdery without makeup―soft without help” (Sebold 43) while Susie poses in her portrait, describing it by stating “My cheeks never redder, my eyes never bluer than they were in the photograph” (265). Only by select people have the privilege to view the photograph of Abigail, while on the other hand, the entire town has seen Susie’s photo. Also, the photograph of Susie “does not provide access to its subject’s interiority, as if only the living have such interiority. Instead, it allows the viewer to learn something about him or herself and their relationship with Susie” (Bliss ). While the photographs differ on many levels, they finally connect through loss, loss “not only of the dead but also of the mother's former, unwillingly relinquished self” (Evans). This loss embodies the overarching theme of photography in the novel. The photographs coexist and contrast with each other in order to display different types of loss as well as the reactions to these losses.
Photographs have the ability to revive faded memories and reveal one’s true self. They retain such an important role in The Lovely Bones because they serve a variety of purposes. In the novel, they act to support the plot as well as develop characters and enhance themes such as grief, loss, and love. Often, humans see only someone’s mask and mistake this for happiness, as seen with Abigail. However, happiness manifests itself through love and freedom, feelings that people often lose and must find a way to regain. Whether it be in The Great Gatsby as both Jay and Daisy search for something genuine in their adult lives or in The Scarlet Letter as Dimmesdale’s conscience urges him to confess his sins, in literature as well as the real world, human beings are constantly searching for experiences that will set them free. This freeing moment, while phenomenal, is short lived. Only a photograph has the ability to preserve the extraordinary moment when someone sheds their mask.