Categorias: Todos - love - symbolism - justice - family

por Molly Dunlop 6 anos atrás

498

The Lovely Bones - Mindmap

A father’s unwavering love for his deceased daughter drives him to seek justice and cope with overwhelming grief. Jack channels his affection for Susie into his living children, symbolizing how love persists even after loss.

The Lovely Bones - Mindmap

5

Justice

Jack thought he saw Mr. Harvey in the cornfield and wanted to kill him to get revenge for killing Susie.

"His heart was pumping, but he could not feel anything but the knowledge in his brain. George Harvey had killed his last little girl."

The person in the cornfield doesn't end being Mr. Harvey but rather, it ends up being Clarissa, Susie's friend, and her boyfriend Brian. That doesn't change the fact that Jack tried to get justice for Susie.

Lindsey Salmon, Susie’s sister, tries to find evidence that Mr. Harvey is Susie’s murderer by breaking into his house.

"Sitting down, she braced her body with her arms and then kicked once, twice, three times with both feet until the window smashed - a muffled cracking."

Lindsey broke into Mr. Harvey's house to find evidence of him being Susie's murderer. Lindsey ends up finding solid evidence that could land Mr. Harvey in jail for the murder of Susie Salmon.

Unending Love

The Monopoly Shoe

When Buckley and Jack were playing Monopoly on Christmas, Jack told Buckley that the shoe was the piece Susie used to play with. This piece became symbolic to Buckley.

"'Which piece is Susie's again?' 'The shoe,' Buckley said."

Later in the book, Buckley and Jack get in a huge fight because Buckley thinks that Jack took the monopoly shoe out of his room. That shows how important the shoe was to Buckley and how, even from a young age, he always loved Susie so much.

Ray

Ray was Susie's first kiss. Susie's death hit him hard but in the end, he knew he had to move on, no matter how hard it may be.

"'She was great,' Ray said. He thought of our lips brushing past one another as we stood alone in a column of lockers." (Sebold 82)

He and Ruth both had a connection with Susie and wanted the police to catch Susie's murderer so that her case could be put to rest.

Susie's father, Jack shows never ending love towards Susie and after her death, he does everything he can to find her murderer. Not only that, but he deals with the grief so heavily because he cares so much about Susie.

"My father was unable to stop the tears." (Sebold 47) "He would find his Susie now inside his young son. Give that love to the living." (Sebold 48) "

These two quotes highlight the never ending love Jack has for his daughter. He now realizes that all of the love he has for Susie should also be put into his living children.

Reflection: The book has been a good read so far although I will say, the chapters are extremely long and slightly repetitive. I also found that some of the wording of the novel was kind of confusing and I found myself confused at some parts. One big thing I was confused about was when the scenes switched between flashbacks of Susie and back to heaven. The author should have done a better job at highlighting when it was a flashback and when it was present time.

Dealing With Grief

Symbolism
The ships in a bottle

The ships in a bottle that Susie and her father worked together on symbolise all of the memories between the family and how toxic those memories are after the tragic murder of Susie.

"He turned and saw all the others, all the years they marked and the hands that had held them. His dead father's, his dead child's. I watched him as he smashed the rest." (Sebold 46)

Jack knows the memories all of these boats share but he’s so full of grief that he needs a way to relieve it and in that moment, smashing the boats seemed like the best decision.

The jingle hat

The jingle hat that Lindsey owns that matches the one Susie was wearing on the day of her murder represents the grief of the family that they try to hide.

"She never wanted my mother to hear the sound of those beadlike bells again." (Sebold 134)

This shows how the grief of Susie's death has been stored away the best that it can but if any sound that could remind them of Susie is made, all that stored grief will be dug up and the wound will be opened again.

Characters
Lindsey

Lindsey becomes cold when she hears about Susie's death.

"She looked right at him. It was not so much a look as a laser. 'What exactly is my loss?'" (Sebold 30)

Lindsey doesn't accept the sympathy from her principal but rather she becomes cold and closed in. Even though Lindsey tries to mask the pain of Susie's death, she is just as broken as the rest of her family, even though she doesn't show it.

Abigail

Susie's mother, Abigail, deals with the grief differently than the rest of the family.

"She pulled Len in to her and slowly kissed him on the mouth." (Sebold 148)

Abigail turns to Len, the police officer on Susie's case, for comfort. She is betraying her family but she is so broken from the death of Susie, that she doesn't think about how her actions could affect her family.

Jack

Susie's father, Jack, seems to get hit by the news of Susie's death the most.

"By the time my father turned back to the living room, he was too devastated to reach out to my mother sitting on the carpet or my sisters hardened form nearby." (Sebold 29)

This quote is from right after Jack heard the news that Susie was dead. He couldn't even bring himself to comfort his family because he was so broken. Throughout the story, the grief of Susie's death stays with him and breaks him slowly.

Reflection Pt. 2: During the ending part of the book, I found that Susie was getting mentioned less and less. Not only this, but the murderer was never caught which was kind of upsetting. The ending of the book could have been more theatrical and interesting.