October 8, 2013
This is a book that I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while. I was surprised to see it on the curriculum for my YA literature class, as I'd never considered this book to be a young adult read. I still don't, actually. But I was glad to have an excuse to read it, and since I hadn't been able to find it through my local library, I bought a used copy.
I'd never seen the whole movie before, but I was familiar with, at least, a simple overview of the plot: a young girl is sexually and physically abused by her stepfather. That's all central to the plot of the book, certainly, but this is also a family story. The Boatwrights are a notorious family in their county; the men are known for being drunk and violent, and the whole family is viewed as being "trash." Bone, the main character, is well aware of this, but isn't necessarily ashamed of this (at least, not all the time). Indeed, she wants to be like her wild uncles, and even goes so far as to break into a Woolworth's with her cousin. The book tells Bone's life from birth to just before her 13th birthday, after she's been violently assaulted by her stepfather, 'Daddy Glen.' She is abandoned by her mother after this happens, as her mother chooses to stay with her husband, the rapist.
It would be easy to judge Anney, Bone's mother, for what she's done. It seems at the end that Bone has, somehow, forgiven her mother, even admiring her strength for everything that she'd gone through, having Bone when she was fifteen and everything. It's important to consider the time period; Bone was born in the mid-1950's. Plus, the Boatwrights were so dirt poor that they wouldn't have been able to help Anney out much (not that they didn't try). So it's understandable why she would have married Glen in the first place. But to stay with him, after all that? After witnessing what happened? But these characters, Glen and Anney, were just desperate people. Their circumstances don't excuse their behavior, but it does explain it.
Bone describes the way that Glen was treated by his otherwise successful family (he, the black sheep, had a raging temper and couldn't hold down menial jobs for long). Did they treat him that way because he was a piece of shit, or did the treatment make him that way? I'd vote for the latter; I've always firmly believed that monsters aren't born, they're created. It doesn't excuse the way he treated a poor young child, and it doesn't even make me pity him much. During my class tonight, as we discussed this book, I made a comment to the effect that Glen was an underdeveloped man-child with Daddy issues. I find myself hoping that Bone's uncle Neville does find Glen and kill him.
The Boatwrights are an interesting bunch, to say the least. The aunts in particular. Bone is left with her Aunt Raylene, the only aunt without children (Aunt Alma had five, with one that died young; Aunt Ruth had eight). She had run away to work on a carnival, posing as a man. She reveals to Bone that she had been in love with a woman, but had made the woman choose between her and her baby. Her lover chose her baby, the right choice, and Raylene regrets putting her lover in that position. Raylene seems the sturdiest of all of the Boatwright women; Alma had a nervous breakdown not long before Bone's assault, breaking nearly everything in her house and scaring her children to death. Aunt Ruth had died. There was another aunt, Aunt Carr, but she lived in Maryland. It made me sad to think that this family, as wretched as their lives could be, could be so close, but that Aunt Carr would be left out of that. Was her life any better, financially, in Baltimore than it would have been back home? Not many details are given on this aunt.
I was drawn into the family bonds in this book, like Bone's relationship with her Uncle Earle or with her cousins. For me personally, after spending six years living away from my family, I'm glad to be around them again. We've had problems for certain, just as the close-knit Boatwrights did at times. It's unfortunate, but I do feel some distance from some of my family members. I don't feel as close with them, in the ways that matter, like I felt like the Boatwrights did with each other. But here's the thing: maybe it was simply the fact that they were family that held them together, in spite of everything. I guess you would say the same thing for my family, too. Our bonds are not always strong, but we are family. You can't choose your family...damn, don't I know it. Just like Bone couldn't pick hers. But there's so much hope at the end of the book...it almost comes out of nowhere, because she'd never felt any kind of hope before. Was the sight of her birth certificate, wiped clean of the "ILLEGITIMATE" stamped at the bottom, enough to make her image a good life? Bone's future is uncertain; I want to believe that she'll go far, being as smart as she is. But the odds are against her.
I'm in a group giving a presentation/leading a discussion about the second half of the book, next week. It'll be a snap. I chose to do that class requirement for this particular book, simply for the fact that I've been wanting to read it so badly. I think our presentation-thing will go well, because this is such a compelling read. Again, really don't think it's meant for a young adult audience, at least not in the context of a classroom. There's even mention in the afterword of a young teacher who tried to use the book in a high school classroom, and was so traumatized by the backlash and eventual banning that she chose to leave the profession. Experience has taught me this: kids today, on the whole, are more sensitive about what they read in school than you might think. I've never gotten into anything serious over this matter, but it's one that I considered a lot during my first teaching job (with a different prep every hour of the day, and most of them reading or literature classes, I was using a lot of books). I think that high schools should be able to handle the subject matter in this book, but that's not the reality. Some could; using it as a whole class would be a mistake. Excluding a book like this from the curriculum isn't great, because I honestly feel like this book has a lot of merit, but there are many other great books out there that won't cause trouble, and can still give students important topics to consider. One thing is for certain: this particular book will be staying on my personal shelf, and will never find its way into my current classroom.
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The Boatwrights are called "white trash," among other things. I wonder if they would have risen up out of poverty in future generations, or if their descendants would be like this fine folks. Looking at the neighborhood, these people don't seem poor. Then again, they could be going on credit, just as Bone's family kept moving from house to house, living in places they couldn't afford. I'm not trying to judge the particular people in this picture, I'm simply saying that that's something many people today have done, except with mortgages rather than renting. High-rate mortgages, and those damn credit cards, will keep you poor if you're not careful.
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