What is the message of Salvage the Bones?
Salvage the Bones is a very powerful and compelling novel that explores a black family in poverty and their efforts for survival throughout obstacles such as pregnancy, and Hurricane Katrina. One should read this book to better understand minority groups, and their disadvantages within the socioeconomic sphere.
What does the title Salvage the Bones mean?
How did you come up with the title Salvage the Bones? WARD. The word salvage is phonetically close to savage. At home, among the young, there is honor in that term. It says that come hell or high water, Katrina or oil spill, hunger or heat, you are strong, you are fierce, and you possess hope.
Why does Skeetah Walk China into town?
Inside the shed, China is weak and tired; Skeetah worries that Manny purposefully gave him bad advice in order to weaken China. Later that afternoon, Esch, Junior, and Skeetah take China on a long walk to the park because Skeetah wants China to sweat out the medicine.
Why is Salvage the Bones a good book?
It’s an old story — of family honor, revenge, disaster — and it’s a good one. As Arnold Schoenberg said, “There is still much good music that can be written in C major.” And Jesmyn Ward makes beautiful music, plays deftly with her reader’s expectations: where we expect violence, she gives us sweetness.
Does Esch give birth?
As Esch watches the dog struggle and labor, she is reminded of her own mother’s final labor: the birth of her younger brother, Junior. Esch and all of her siblings were birthed in their house—a house built in a clearing in the woods called the Pit.
Does Esch have her baby?
Esch is pregnant, and has been rejected and cast aside by the father of her unborn child—a local boy named Manny with whom Esch has been in love for a long time, despite the fact that he treats her badly and discounts her at every turn.
What is Esch last name in Salvage the Bones?
Esch Batiste, is a 15-year old African-American girl living in the coastal area of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, with her father and three brothers. Her mother died after giving birth to the youngest child called Junior. She and her family are very poor.
Who is the protagonist in Salvage the Bones?
Esch
Esch is the novel’s narrator and protagonist, a fifteen-year-old girl who is both physically and emotionally isolated from her family and the world around her.