Cecilia Carbone

The Lovely Bones Mini-Project

Brown
UWRT 1103
3/15/2015

Minor Prompt 1 (The effects deaths presence had):

I feel that having the dead watching gave a very comforting feel to the story. This book was
brutal in the fact that a fourteen year girl was raped and murdered. Having Susie narrate the story
made you forget from time to time how tragic her death was. It felt like she was still actually
there. The dead being present effected Ruth. Ruths whole life completely changed after Susie
touched her while passing to the afterlife. That feeling of Susie stayed with her forever, she
completely obsessed over it and based a lot of her life decisions on it. She became even more
secluded from her peers, she became a vegetarian, and she even had a nervous look in her eye
that made people uncomfortable. Another person who was affected by the deaths presence was
Susies father, Jack. The few times she appeared added gallons of fuel to the already blazing fire
Jack had had burning inside him. When she appeared in the broken ship bottles and while he was
in the hospital it helped remind him to never lose focus of what he knew he had to do. He knew
he had to find Susies murder and avenge her death. Her presence calmed him and reminded him
what was important.

Minor Prompt 2:
Abigail is a mom, but not a mother. She gave birth to three kids, and raised them for most of
their lives. Yet even when all three were alive, a part of her resented them. As they grew older
she grew farther from her children. For a while she was a real mother, yet when Susie died she
gave up on her family. She couldnt handle being around them. Even before she physically left
her family, she wasnt there for her kids or husband emotionally. On page 207 she tells Lindsey,
I want to be more than a mother. She flat out told her daughter that her life at home wasnt
good enough for her. When Abigail finally leaves I feel that her family is better off without her
since she never actually seemed like she was there. She leaves for six years and just sends post
cards and occasionally calls her family. I would consider her a mother before Susies death, but
afterwards she distanced herself to a point where she was a just a stranger in the house until
finally she up and left.

Major Prompt 1 (Not-So-Little Girls):

The last page of the book an older couple stumbles upon Susies charm bracelet. As he holds up
the dirt encrusted bracelet his wife says, This little girl is grown up by now. Susie responds
with, Almost. Not quite. I wish you all a long and happy life. I think the literal meaning of this
is in heaven she is physically still a child. She will never get to leave that body and grow up. She
did grow up mentally in way. She matured a lot over the years. She came to accept the way she
died and was able to finally stop obsessing over the living and what she had lost. I think in a
more figurative way she means that because of how she died she cant ever grow up. The
emotional scaring of being raped and murdered isnt something a little girl can overcome. She

moves along the best she can, and accepts it to some degree but that will always be a part of her.
I think thats why she says, I wish you all a long and happy life. Shes accepted what happened
to her, and shes no longer jealous of everyone elses lives. She wants people to strive in a way
and isnt just sitting in heaven bitter about what was taken from her.

Human Experience Prompt:

The character who had the greatest evolution as a human being would be Lindsey. When
Susie died she was only thirteen. She stayed strong after the tragedy. It definitely changed her to
an extent, but it didnt destroy her. If anything she grew up because of it. She became Buckleys
mother figure. When Jack got attacked in the cornfield and the police came to the house Abigail
was nothing but cold to Lindsey. Abigail forces her to stay home and wait for news instead of
going out and looking for Jack. On page 143 it says, Lindsey was dumbfounded. She stared at
our mother and knew what she wanted most: to flee, to run out into the cornfield where my
father was, where I was, where she felt suddenly that the heart of her family had moved. But
Buckley stood warm against her. She stayed calm for her brother. She also continued to do well
in school. She ended up getting married and having a baby. Susie was always most fascinated
with Lindsey.
The character with the least evolution as a human was Mr. Harvey. Not once did he feel
any guilt for what he did. Mr. Harvey even lets Jack help him build a tent in his backyard. He
also planned on trying to go after another girl. On page 370 he follows a teenage girl outside a
restaurant and ends up dying before he can do anything as an icicle falls on him and throws off
his balance and he falls off a cliff.

This book relates to human experience because it shows how people handle tragedies
differently. The tragedy is the experience and every person in this book had a different way of
coping with Susies death. Some characters took her death and bettered themselves like Lindsey,
Grandma Lynn, and Ruth. Lindsey and Grandma Lynn stayed put together for the sake of the
family. Grandma Lynn moved in after Abigail left. Lindsey and Buckley became protective of
their father. Samuel and Lindsey run ten miles through the rain to save Jack from worrying after
Samuels bike breaks down. This shows how much they care for the dad. Other characters didnt
handle the death so well. Jack breaks down many times as he misses his daughter and is enraged
about her death. Abigail cant bear to be around her own family and leaves. The many different
views really show the human experience because its different for everyone. Some people try to
do their best after bad things happen, while others dont know how to go on with their lives. This
book did a great job of illustrating the different views.