The Lovely Bones Susie Salmon Character Analysis

The unimaginable thought, yet the inevitable conclusion, to life is death. Everyone wonders what happens when we pass away but there is no way of knowing for sure. People come into this world with a life sentence, but don’t know when, where, how, or why they die. In thinking about the end of life, the last thing someone often imagines is being murdered. Susie Salmon found this out the hard way. Susie Salmon, a character in The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, was raped and murdered at the age of fourteen by a neighbor. Susie, who is narrating from heaven, watches over her loved ones, including her father, mother, sister, and grandmother. Susie’s character is difficult to understand and a devastating story to even consider. She provides a different perspective on Earthly happenings, and on how the dead and the living interact. Susie is essentially “living” life after death. Many people associate tragic heroes with a fatal flaw such as pride, greediness and/or nobility. These flaws eventually consume their heroic characters and lead to his or her death. Aristotle

“What about the dead?“ I asked. “Where do we go?” (The Lovely Bones, 145). When Susie asks this to her friend in heaven, she hasn't yet understood why she must let go of her loved ones from Earth. She still wants to be a part of their life and watch them grow. But Susie must grow herself and let go of what she wants to be apart of most, Earth. When Susie speaks of Earth, she always capitalizes it, but whenever she speaks of her heaven, she keeps it lowercased. This indicates where Susie’s heart really is (Pink Monkey, 2). Many people understand the loved ones of a victim grieve, but no one understands how the victim grieves. Susie gives the readers this experience. She enters her own stages of grief and does not accept she has passed away. She wants to be there for her family and is unable to let them