Getting into "Bastard Out of Carolina," I was immediately drawn to the character Bone, which I'm sure many are considering that she is the main character. She is very interesting, and I like her point of view. She's not very typical of a ten year old in my eyes, but still seems somewhat innocent and young.
In the start of the book it seemed like she was a bit of an outcast, but a happy little girl. She had a mother who was beautiful and they were very close, and eventually a little sister, Reese, with whom she always played with and it seemed like they were very close. I definitely think that Bone's mother was the most influential person in her life. It seems that she altered her life in order to please her.
For example, their happiest time seemed to be when Anney and Lyle were together. Bone never really said anything negative about her feelings or her mamma's feelings during that part of the book. Once Lyle died though, Anney became very sad, and I think that Bone really felt that. She hated to see her mother looking old, and see that empty smile. Bone knew that her mother was sad and lonely, and it seemed to me that Bone was a little sad too. She really cared for her mother, and worked very hard to please. While Anney was in this slump it seemed that Bone was very understanding for a young girl and that she wanted to help her mamma.
Then when Anney first met Glen Bone seemed pretty happy for her. Some feeling came back into Anney's eyes that she hadn't seen in a while. When Anney asked Bone if she liked Glen there was no way that Bone was going to say anything negative because she could see how badly Anney wanted her to like him.
Eventually, this protecting of her mother became an issue for Bone. It was no longer just trying to make her mother happy, but it was putting her in danger. When Glen beat Bone all the time and broke her bones, she never really told anyone what was happening. She wanted to make her mom happy more than anything. She could see how tired and old her mother was looking again, and she just tried to be the best girl that she could.
Although, I haven't yet finished reading, I can see that Bone has been through so much. She takes criticism and abuse all the time, but somehow she still seems strong. Although the readers can see that she is hurt, scared, and lonely, I can see a happy ending in the future for Bone.
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6 comments:
I agree with you that bone started out as a somewhat typical child, though sort of an outcast because of her family. But its Bone's connection to Anney that eventually hurts her the most. The mother/daughter bond is so strong in the beginning and that is what Glen breaks the most-it isn't an arm or a tailbone, but that bond.
I think that you were right that bone started out as a normal child. But I think from the begginning Bone was an outcast in her own home and within her extended family. She was not really a Boatwright or a memmber of Glen's family. The only person that she had in the world was her mother Anney. Even that bond was threatened by Glen. So I think that Bone lived on the precarious edge of never being accepted in either family.
I also agree with you when you say that Bone seems like a typical young girl in the beginning of the novel. The big difference of course, like you mentioned, is how she feels the need to protect her mother, even when she's a little girl barely old enough to understand what makes her mother so sad. As Bone gets older you really can see how much she tries to protect her mother, while her mother doesn't do anything to protect Bone.
I agree Bone is a very interesting character, she has some of the different characteristics of children in general and then some that seems sightly odd compared to the "normal child". Like how she is blaming herslef for what Daddy Glen is doing to her. Most kids when they are abused think it is thier fault and they did something to deserve it. But also Bone has different obsessions that are different than you would think for a child, like the hook.
I agree that Bone was much happier in the beginning of the story and was a much more normal child before Glen entered the picture. But I'm not so sure that Bones can ever really have a happy life. After all she went through with the abuse and the loss of the bond she and her mother had, I don't think that anyone could forget this sort of thing and move on without dealing with it all and it just doesn't seem like she wants to.
I feel that Bone did start out as a normal child, and unfortunately had to experience a lot of bad things in her early life. It is even more unfortunate that Bone did not have much control at all over the circumstances to which she faced. Her life and her outcome of events have been the fault of her mother's actions (Glen) and was too scared to cry for help
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