Amber-Lynn Cruz

The Lovely Bones Mini-Project

R. Andrew Brown
UWRT 1103-007
March 19th, 2015
I & II Prompts:
Prompt ~ The Lovely Bones 2 (Catharsis)
1. Lindsey pg. 31
Suzies death is known around school, so the principal takes her sister to the
office (couch/chair) to speak about her loss. Lindsey is hardened: and at that
point decides she will not be defenseless and begins to work out and became
her own knight in shining armor.
2. Suzie pg. 320
After her fathers heart attack with the family altogether.
Suzies catharsis is the realization that her family can move on without her
and that it was because of her death the events. Outcomes played out and
shes finally able to move on.
3. Abigail pg. 268
Jack had just had his heart attack and Abigail returns home to find that life
went on without her and her selfish actions brought hate and tension into the
family. Buckley said fuck you and remember the hate hes carried since four
years old and puts a strain on their relationship.
Prompt ~ The Lovely Bones 9 (Tone)
I would say that her narrative form works well for readers because you (as
the reader) arent reading as a character in the story, like most books. But rather, a
third party (Suzie) and is easier to relate: the reader is reading/experiencing through
Suzie who is viewing/experiencing through a glass.
1. When Jack goes to the cornfield with his bat, Suzie wants to warn him that the
kids are there, not Harvey.
2. When Lindsey is with the principal Suzie wants him to make her laugh/joke,
etc. not talking about feelings.
3. When Ray and Ruth are driving by the place where Suzies body is, Suzie
watches as Ruth sees Mr. Harvey, and although that point in the book is when
the cross over from Heaven to Earth for Suzie and vice versa for Ruth, and at
that point Suzie becomes a 1st party character.
III. Major Concepts
Not-So-Little Girls
When the wife remarked that This little girls grown up by now and Suzie
responded with Almost. Not quite. I wish you all a long and happy life. Her reply
both means that even though she died at such a young age and wasnt given the
opportunity to grow up in the sense that everyone else thinks when they grow up.
She was only able to watch her friends and family grow, and even though she didnt

physically age, mentally she matured to the point where she was no longer a 14
year old girl, but she is fully aware that she still has more time to go. She was finally
able to quit asking questions and move on in a sense where she can explore a
different kind of Heaven, one where she can meet again with her grandfather who
previously was not a part of her first Heaven. With the ending of I wish you all a
long and happy life, I feel as though she is talking to both the reader and the family
who found her bracelet. She wishes their innocent minds peace and a happy life:
one where what happened to her isnt echoed in their own. I feel like it could also be
taken as a sign off to the reader who had been there since the beginning and
witnessed everything alongside her, that hopefully they will get to experience a
long a happy life, something she hadnt been able to accomplish.

IV. The Human Experience

A Prompt
The character that displays the greatest growth in becoming a true human
being would be Abigail. In the beginning, she was the motherly figure who push
through everything to have the perfect life imaginable. She even tried to push away
the thought of Suzies remembrance at the cornfield. As the novel progressed she
became a more selfish person and eventually left her family and got as far away
from them as physically possible. Although maybe her tendencies were selfish in
the beginning they even got more so, and then when she tried to come back: she
wasnt accepted, at least not at first. Until she begins to change her actions and
thoughts, which in a way she eventually does. The character that displays the least
amount of growth would be Ruth. Since the beginning of the novel she had stayed
true to herself: a possibly gay(?) artist who struggles daily with the gift of being able
to see the deaths of women from young to old. Although, yes, she matures as every
person does, she in all simplicity remains the same person she was in middle school
when Suzie died. I believe that the novel meets the needs of showcases examples
of humans. A lot can be seen from Suzies family after her death. Everyone that
became affected showed an experience that humans have all of the time: from
sharing love and first kisses (Ray and Ruth), to relationships blossoming into true
love (Lindsey and Sam), to being there for when your family needs you most
(Grandma Lynn). Each character encompasses his/her own version of how to live
and how to create your life how you want it to be regardless of what happens to
you.