The novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold follows the path the Salmon family takes after the death of the daughter Susie. The book addresses the grieving process which is hard to confront. The family goes through division throughout the book as each tries to cope with the death in their individual lives instead of dealing with it as a whole. Susie can’t communicate with her family but merely watches her family, community, and killer from heaven. Susie sees everything from this perspective giving more insight in her world of isolation. With this, Susie's experiences after death are alienating and enriching as she watches from heaven. One would think watching the world without being a part of it would be hardest. Susie is alienated from her family when she is abruptly killed by Mr. Harvey severing her from her family. However, Susie is not the one completely cut off from her family as she watches them from heaven. Her family is the one left unsure if Susie is maybe ok, or where she even is. This …show more content…
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
Although, Buckley was never told what happened to Susie, except for the fact that she died tragically. No one bothered to explain to him what had happened. Buckley is only four years old and does not understand that Susie is dead, so Mr. Salmon has to simplify her death. Mr. Salmon explains that Susie is dead by using Susie’s favorite monopoly piece. “‘See this shoe?’ my father said... “Susie?” my brother asked, somehow connecting the two. ‘Yes, I’m going to tell you where Susie is’” (Sebold, 2002, p. 45). He takes Susie’s piece from the Monopoly board, by doing so Jack demonstrates that Susie is out of the game of life. Buckley only understands that Susie is not coming back. He does not understand where she
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,
All through the times of the intense expectation, overwhelming sadness, and inspiring hope in this novel comes a feeling of relief in knowing that this family will make it through the wearisome times with triumph in their faces. The relationships that the mother shares with her children and parents are what save her from despair and ruin, and these relationships are the key to any and all families emerging from the depths of darkness into the fresh air of hope and happiness.
Throughout the novel, crucial family members and friends of the girl that died are meticulously reshaped by her absence. Lindsey, the sister, outgrows her timidity and develops a brave, fearless demeanor, while at the same time she glows with independence. Abigail, the mother, frees herself from the barbed wire that protected her loved ones yet caused her great pain, as well as learns that withdrawing oneself from their role in society may be the most favorable choice. Ruth, the remote friend from school, determines her career that will last a lifetime. and escapes from the dark place that she was drowning in before. Thus, next time one is overcome with grief, they must remember that constructive change is guaranteed to
In addition, Jack showed his inability to let go of Susie by keeping her physical belongings with him. From heaven, Susie is watching all of this happen, noting that “I knew then he would never give me up. He would never count me as one of the dead. I was his daughter, and he was my dad, and he had loved me as much as he could. I had to let him go” (...). The final sentence is very significant. It is the time when Susie recognizes the need for her to let go if she truly wishes to end her family’s suffering. As Susie is able to forget the past, so does Jack. He soon realizes that Susie lives in his past, memories, and not in objects. Specifically, it is not until Jack survives his heart attack that he fully accepts that his daughter has left. “Last night it had been [Susie’s] father who had finally said it, ‘[Susie’s]never coming home.’ A clear and easy piece of truth that everyone who had ever known me had accepted” (289). Upon realizing this truth, Jack is able to continue with his life, job, and most importantly, to refocus his attention to his two other
Toni Morrison’s Beloved tells a story of a loving mother and ex-slave who takes drastic measures to protect her children which later affect her entire life. In contrast, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying goes through the life of the Bundren’s after their mother passes away and their journey to get her coffin to Jefferson. The bond between a mother and her children is chronicled in these novels. Both Faulkner and Morrison explain how the influence of a mother can affect how a child grows and matures through her love and actions.
...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.
Common among classic literature, the theme of mortality engages readers on a quest of coping with one of the certainties of life. Katherine Anne Porter masterfully embraces the theme of mortality both directly and indirectly in her story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Understanding that all mankind ultimately becomes subject to death unleashes feelings of dread and anxiety in most people; however, Granny Weatherall transitions from rushing to meet her demise in her sixties to completely denying she is on her deathbed when she is eighty. Readers have seen this theme of mortality reverberated over and over in literature, but what makes this story stand the test of time is the author’s complexity. In Katherine Anne Porter’s
Louisa’s feelings for her lover have disappeared throughout the years and when her lover returns to marry her, she feels very uncertain of the marriage. Similarly, many engagements are broken due to the fact that the feelings between couples fade after there is a distance between them, for years. Another example that relates to life is, “[i]n that length of time much had happened. Louisa's mother and brother had died, and she was all alone in the world” (Freeman p). When immigrants return to their country, many deaths have occurred in the time period of their absence and sometimes the deaths include their own relatives. To their misfortune, they never have a chance to say a last good bye. The story, A new England’s Nun is very similar to the lives of many people and in many cases the same.
One world up above where they can watch over the ones below. Susie in The Lovely Bones she has restricted use and effects on earth, because she is in heaven up above. Alice Sebold portrays these events through the view of Susie Salmon, Susie have the ability to know what everyone is thinking. Sebold shows that young love have many differences to those that are also in love, but mature. Susie the narrator, attitude toward the lover of young and old also is different. There is also a unique character in the novel, his name is George Harvey, and his view on love is extremely different.
Joyce Carol Oates uses loss of control to show the effects of trauma caused from death. The trauma is later turned into the permanent characteristic of being violent. Being “one of the most prolific and versatile contemporary writes” Joyce Carol Oates creates amazing works related to loss of control, murder, suicide, loss of identity that catch the reader’s attention. (ENOTES) Little Bird of Heaven and The Falls are novels mainly focused on characters that are greatly impacted by murders of family members or someone close to them.
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...
After such a grief experience, unity is shown in many places in the book. Because of Susie’s death, the Salmon family drifted farther and farther apart from each other, but as they overcame their loss, they united as one loving family, once again. Ruth and Ray show unity as well. Susie’s death is what unites them in the first place, but when Susie travels into Ruth’s body and does what she has to do, Ruth and Ray felt worry free and sincerely united to one another. Along with many other characters uniting here and there, this novel shows how to unite with strangers or even with people we already
Abigail Salmon goes through many hardships after the death of her first-born daughter Susie. Even though she is scarred, upset and feels helpless, she finds a way to move on and finds happiness. She knows that the murder has happened, and she cannot change the circumstances by lamenting over it. Abigail tells Len Fenerman that she has moved on, and that she is ready to talk about her daughter’s murder normally.
Two weeks after her father’s funeral, our protagonist Annie sees his ghost in her bathroom. Knowing he is dead, they small talk about her boyfriend, their farm, their deceased family etc. until he suddenly vanishes. Her father makes occasional appearances after that. They keep talking about everyday life until one night at the Opera House, where she not only sees her father, but her brother and mother as well. Knowing where to find them, she takes her goodbye with her dead family.