The Passage In Salvage The Bones By Jesmyne Ward

Throughout Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones, many themes are revealed in each chapter, but in chapters 11 and 12 specifically, Ward is able to convey the themes of hope and resilience during and after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. During the hurricane, Esch begins to come to grips with her pregnancy by realizing the strength she has, Randall and Skeetah are seen as the heads of the family and take care of everyone, while daddy s able to soften his character when learning about Esch’s pregnancy. While everything is falling apart around them, the Batiste family is able to keep each other afloat by their willingness to survive and their hope for the future. Ward uses many instances of the care that Big Henry shows after the hurricane and the reshaping of many characters during and after the hurricane to represent that there is always a tomorrow and a chance to better oneself.

CD: At the beginning of the novel, Esperanza describes her relations to the boys in her neighborhood as “a red balloon that is tied to an

In the novel Salvage the Bones by Karen Ward describes the life of a family of 5 living in rural Mississippi, waiting for hurricane Katrina to strike. Esch Baptiste, being the only girl in the novel, showcases her motherly like attitude by taking charge and helping the family. Esch’s lack of knowledge from not having a mother forces her to think maturely to help aid the family to prepare for the hurricane. Her relationships with her brothers and Manny reveals different sides to Esch’s personality; allowing the reader to understand Esch’s character through the different relationships. Esch’s pregnancy also shows her motherly side to the story, as it is linked to her mother’s pregnancy

Thus, he treats her like a child and “laughs at [her]… ” and calls her a “‘...little girl’” (Gilman 90, 94). For these two female characters in “A Rose for Emily” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, their struggles are a direct result of male dominance, and their coping mechanism escorts them away from the world that devalues them.

This initiation usually occurs through the acquisition of knowledge and experience. In many of these novels, the move into adulthood includes a loss of innocence or the destruction of a false sense of security. The protagonist often experiences a shift from ignorance to knowledge, innocence to experience, idealism to realism, or immaturity to maturity. In addition, coming of age involves rituals or rites of passage. The Lovely Bones focuses on these issues as the author explores the process of growing up. The novel begins when Lindsey Salmon is thirteen years old and ends almost ten years later, with Lindsey as wife and mother. It traces her move through the routines and events of female adolescence—first kisses, shaving of legs, makeup, summer camp, love, friendship, college. The novel, however, also traces Susie's coming of age. By presenting the development of a dead girl along with a living one, Sebold imbues the experiences of growing up with enhanced significance. Susie cannot move on in death until she finishes "growing up." Susie's rape and murder hastens the process of moving from innocence to experience for both girls. Susie learns her suburban and rather ordinary world is not safe—men murder children in this world. She moves swiftly and violently from innocence to experience, and from idealism to realism. Yet this shift does not culminate in her "coming

She is being raised in a world where women are expected to suffer silently and to be at the mercy of their men. However, men were not expected to return this slave-like behavior for the women. This setting of the novel allows the reader to see exactly how treacherous life can be. This suffering is so present in Estrella’s family’s lives, yet she somehow is able to bring the family along no matter how difficult the situation may be. She is still trapped in between two very different worlds: "She tried to remember which side she was on and which side of the wire mesh she was safe in" (59). Her mother may be taken over by a world of suffering, but she is not so beaten that she cannot pass some of her fighting

In addition to Esperanza facing society's standards for women, so did many of the women on Mango Street. In this time period, countless women are stuck in gender roles. Sally says, “He never hits me hard” (Cisneros 92). Sally’s father makes her feel belittled when he abuses her because it is socially acceptable to hit your own daughter. Her father makes it seem like she is less valued than a male. Esperanza talks about Sally, “But Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his

In this analysis I plan to show that the first person point of view was used to write this short story. I also want to show that there is more than one theme as well. I would like to show how Edie kept secrets and how she was blinded by love. I plan to show that this story contained secrecy almost to the ending.

The development of characters transpire as a result of significant events in their lives. Events such as learning a new skill have the ability to transform a character’s life. Estrella in Helena Maria Viramontes’ novel Under the Feet of Jesus flourishes into an individual who once got upset over skills she did not have and was upset at the process of learning, but now understands how vital education is. Estrella was infuriated by her lack of understanding about the Perfecto’s tools and the letters on the chalkboard. She was especially agitated when the educators would not give her the answer right away The selection of detail shows the connection between two things she overcame. The tone and figurative language shows more detail about Estrella’s transformation.

Eche has loved Manny for a couple of years now. In Chapter 3, Sickness in the Dirt”, Eche recalls her love for him.“I loved Manny ever since I saw him kissing that girl. I loved him before he started seeing Shaliyah” (Ward 56). Esch has decided not to tell Many about the baby just yet. She’s afraid of losing him because although she does display many feelings towards him, he views her nothing more as a toy he gets to play around with. Because of this Esch feels insecure and afraid. What if he’s not in the baby’s life? She’s trying to pull herself together at this point and prepare to tell him soon, but with Shaliyah in the way it only makes everything harder. Eche is jealous of Shaliyah because Manny “loves” her rather than Eche herself. All Eche has ever wanted was to feel loved by Manny. Nothing else, nothing more. Although, he never will love her.

By selecting which details to include Viramontes is able to depict Estrella’s change from being a perplexed child who does not read to someone who reads and understands the need to learn. Key idea worth developing--how does she arrive at this insight? Viramontes begins the excerpt with the question “So what is this?” (line 1) Then, she explains the red tool chest and Estrella's disorientation. She states, “Estrella hated when things were kept from her” (line 12) and the toolbox was an example of something that was kept from her, a secret.The toolbox held secrets and “funny shaped objects” (lines 6-7). All of which Estrella was unaware and uninformed about. Furthermore, in school Estrella is unable to learn essential skills, such as reading and writing, due to the fact that teachers will not answer her questions. Additionally, some teachers care more about Estrella’s hygiene rather than her education, this lack of interest in her

The lack of matriarchal influence in Esch’s life drives her to seek acceptance and support from her male counterparts. Esch was raised in a household full of men and, as a result, is surrounded by the male insight of all perspectives of life. She grows up in an atmosphere where women are in the minority, both socially and quantitatively. Her only connections to femininity and womanhood are through sexuality. The boys in her life are all attracted to the sexual release she can provide them with because she is easily-accessible and dependent on the attention she gets in return. According to the article The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, “Women may either imagine and represent themselves as men imagine and represent them (in which

Other than sexuality the idea of personal growth is intertwined throughout these stories. Eva, in “The Found Boat” experiences this idea of growth when Clayton tells her to heat up the tar. “But Eva could see now, and she picked up the lid with the stove-lifter, and took the poker and poked up a flame. She stirred the tar as it softened. She felt privileged” (p357). Eva becomes a “women” at this time – she is allowed to use the stove alone, which to any girl (real and fiction) sees and understands that it is and always will be a sign of growth from a child to a young woman. When Sammy not only quits but also defends the girls to Lengel, “You didn’t have to embarrass them.” (p373), he grows as a man – he is able to understand the idea of lust, sex and the idea of following his heart.

On the other hand, it could be articulated that the female characters in both the novels have proved their mental instabilities, individualisms and rebelliousness have disturbed the lives of others. Moreover, it could be analyzed in the novels that both the author in their social context has explained the dark secrets of the life of individuals.

Reading Salvage the Bones as a feminist critic changes your view on the story. When reading about Esch and how unfeminine she is I originally thought that is just the way she is, however, when I looked at it from a feminist critic point of view, my thought about why Esch is not feminine changed. In Peter Barry’s book on page 128 at the bottom is a section called “What feminist critics do”. Number seven on that list stuck out to me, it says, “Raise the question of whether men and women are ‘essentially’ different because of biology, or are socially constructed as different”. That question made me think of Esch, is Esch different because of biology or was she socially constructed differently? When you think about if Esch’s mom would have lived that brings up a new question would Esch be different? Esch is not very feminine because she was socially constructed that way. Randall and Skeetah raised Esch after their mother’s death. Esch’s mother was not exactly feminine either. There was no one in Esch’s life to teach her how to be feminine. From our in class notes on feminism, we wrote femininity construct, no “inherent” way to be a woman and I think it applies to Esch because every women is different and depending upon your upbringing determines what type of women you will be, feminine or unfeminine.