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Literary theory of the lovely bones
Critical novel analysis of The Lovely Bones
Critical novel analysis of The Lovely Bones
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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 …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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
Peter Wollen begins his essay “Fire and Ice” by saying that “Photographs appear as devices for stopping time and preserving fragments of the past, like flies in amber.” This is true about the photographs described in Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. Photography becomes the protagonist, Geryon’s, world once his lover Herakles breaks up with him. The photographs he takes represents
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.
“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.
we are told that this story is about a girl or a woman and perhaps her
“We didn’t know we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.” This quote by an unknown author gives us a unique vision of memories; it shows that memories are powerful. The most powerful can be made without recognition. The most powerful are made with excitement. Annie Dillard clearly portrays this idea in “The Chase,” a chapter in her autobiography. She tells the story of her rebellious childhood and one of the most heart-pumping events of her life - a redheaded man giving her a chase. With this, she demonstrates the need for excitement, fearlessness, and recklessness in one’s childhood. In order to convey this idea, Dillard not only employs fierce and vivid description, but she impassionedly transitions from spine-chilling tone to thrilling.
Edwidge Danticat novel, The Farming of Bones, provides readers with an understanding of the relations of Haitians and Dominicans by chronicling the Haitians escape from the Dominican Republic following the parsley massacre and emphasizing the importance of remembering the past. Though it is a work of fiction, Danticat is able to present characters and plot points that illustrate the racial and ethnic relations between Haiti and The Dominican Republic that led to the spread of antihaitianismo. The main themes of the novel explores the impact of nationalism and the formation of ethnic/racial formation through the characters actions which allows the reader to understand the ethnic/racial tension occurring at the time on a much personal level,
Photographs capture the essence of a moment because the truth shown in an image cannot be questioned. In her novel, The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold uses the language of rhetoric to liberate Abigail from the façade of being a mother and spouse in a picture taken by her daughter, Susie. On the morning of her eleventh birthday, Susie, awake before the rest of the family, discovers her unwrapped birthday present, an instamatic camera, and finds her mother alone in the backyard. The significance of this scene is that it starts the author’s challenge of the false utopia of suburbia in the novel, particularly, the role of women in it.
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...
The novel “Salvage the Bones” started with the bible verse “See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god with me; I will kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, neither is there any can deliver out of my hand.” As the novel started with this verse, readers could expect to see a lot of painful experiences that involve life, death and painful events in the characters in the novel. The theme of loss and tragedy is one of the prominent themes that is being portrayed in this novel. The two characters that are affected badly by the theme of loss are Esch and Skeetah. Esch losing the love of her life: Manny, while Skeetah losing his precious dog, China. Through the loss and tragedy event, the readers could see how the characters develop and
Over the summer, after taking a break from reading a novel just for entertainment, I sat down to read How to Read Literature like a Professor and it was the exact novel to refresh and supplement my dusty analysis skills. After reading and applying Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature like a Professor, towards The Bonesetter’s Daughter I found a previously elusive and individualized insight towards literature. Although, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is full of cryptic messages and a theme that is universal, I was able to implement an individual perspective on comprehending the novel’s universal literary devices, and coming upon the unique inference that Precious Auntie is the main protagonist of the novel.
Dorothea had spent a long day capturing images and she was going back to print the images when she had drove past a sign that said, “Pea Picker’s Camp.” Dorothea continued to drive thinking she had enough photographs she did not need anymore. Something struck her that she could not resist and eventually she turned around saying, “I was following instinct, not reason” (Partridge, Lange 2). She stopped at the worn down camp and was intrigued by a mother and her seven children. Dorothea took her camera over to them and no one asked any questions. She captured only six images of this mother and her youngest children. The woman had told Dorothea that the freezing rain and sleet had ruined the pea crop. They did not have any work and they had to sell tires for food (Partridge, Lange 3). Dorothea had no idea what those images would do for her career, but she knew she had to show the world what those people in “Pea Picker’s Camp” were going through.
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.
There are multiple reasons why a book can be banned or challenged. Book banning causes the removal of materials in schools and libraries due to “inappropriate” content. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, was banned due to sexual content and language.
...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.
Norris, P. (2014). Literary Review - Pamela Norris on Anne Enright's Taking Pictures. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/norris_03_08.html [Accessed: 14 Apr 2014].