Has it ever crossed your mind if your departed loved ones ever observe you from above in “their” heaven? In the novel The Lovely Bones, by the author Alice Sebold, this is exactly what happens. Heart aching moments, broken love and overwhelming times of struggle are all very true elements in this beautifully written, bittersweet story. This page turner will have emotions flaming from cheerless to blessed till the very end! This book is full of unexpected twists and unbearable scenes, suiting almost any personal preference of any novel.
Beautiful and loved Susie Salmon’s life is ended tragically as the reader is shown her gruesome and horrible rape and murder, a sudden change from the sweet beginning. As Susie watches from her heaven, incapable to do anything but that; her family begins to fall apart as they all attempt to deal with her sudden departure to the afterlife. Enveloped in their own suffering and agony, the family’s struggles seem to mirror Susie’s, since she can do nothing but observe her family’s grief. Her family, those she left behind, are her unfinished business; and as such she must help them before she can move on. Somehow she must convey to them that she’s really gone and they must move on and learn to love each other without her, and to live a new life with her gone. The story also follows and centers on the psychotic man who killed Susie, Mr. George Harvey, and how he got to be in the position he finds himself in, from how he became so disturbed to the other people he has killed. This causes some insight into his psyche and history, which allows the reader to feel empathy and sorrow for his story based on the fact that his insanity is due to factors out of his control and dysfunction in his life. Susie’s loved ones eventually open up and expose their true feelings, which allows the healing to finally take place; this moving moment brings the reader to tears. Due to the plausibility of these events, the story line adds dramatically to the novel. A loved one’s death is never easy, but as is shown in The Lovely Bones it is truly a beautiful thing when they learn to pick up the pieces and eventually feel positive again.
The Essay on Government Influence On Family Life
Do government programs influence family life? Some of these programs are Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. These programs have changed family life not only in a positive way, but also in a negative way. These programs are targeted at giving older citizen some form of money or medical care, while other programs are geared at taking money from the working class. Yes, government programs do ...
The main characters don’t want to share their emotions, and just want to bottle everything up and pretend they don’t feel what they feel. Instead of wearing their hearts on their sleeves, they are unwilling to let anyone know how emotionally damaged they are because of Susie’s death. They are genuine characters and behave exactly how the reader would expect close family members to react to a death of a loved one. Her mom’s character lacks development in the beginning of the novel, but further and further into the novel she is portrayed more and more as an immature, selfish, and weak woman, trying to push the tragedy of her daughter’s death out of her head and just ignore it. She is shown to be a characteristic, motherly figure, but as time goes on we see that she’s more insecure and less motherly than originally thought. She has an affair with the policeman assigned to Susie’s murder case, a vain and embarrassing attempt to shut out and escape reality. Susie’s grandma is an alcoholic who tries to dress up for men that are much too young for her. Her character is very human and plausible. Even though she appears to be a pain to deal with for the family in the start, in the end everyone else’s problems are just the same as hers.
They are all just trying to make some sense of Susie’s death. In the beginning of the story, many of the characters seem perfect and virtuous, but in dealing with Susie’s death they all reveal their actual character. Susie’s sister, Lindsay, is a good example of a character greatly changed by circumstances. Although she appears to be perfect and without flaws, the actual reality of it is she is too insecure to step out of her bubble, and seems content being second best to her sister. Very bright and gifted at sports, Lindsay dislikes the spotlight and is lacking in social skills. Susie’s father, Jack, refuses to let her go becomes fixated on Mr. Harvey and is convinced that he is Susie’s killer, mainly due to Susie’s urgings from heaven. He starts to become obsessed, to the point where everyone things he is insane. While the others are dealing with their sense of loss, disappointment and anger, Susie, spends her time in heaven just following her family around. Not much character development happens to Susie. A very tragic protagonist, she had tons of ambition and had many goals she wished to accomplish on Earth but when her life was suddenly taken, she became unable to fulfill those ambitions. She wanted to be a wildlife photographer, and travel the world and love Ray, her partner on Earth. We see that sometimes things don’t work out as planned. By the end of the story, many of the characters have resolved their inner conflicts due to Susie’s departure but some are still working on it.
The Essay on Death Penalty Life Murder States
I disagree with the author, the death penalty does not deter violent crimes. If anything it helps promote the United States as a violent nation. People know of the consequences and still commit murders, and this will not change there will always be deranged members of society no matter what we do. There is another option, life in prison. Life in prison is cheaper and the murders are taken out of ...
The climax, the grisly murder and rape of our protagonist Susie, is disturbing and graphic. It was one of the most horrible and awful scenes in the story and the worst thing imaginable that could ever happen to a young girl. It was expected that something had occurred to her, because she talks how she is dead in the beginning of the book. What was unexpected was how disturbing her death/murder was. The climax is in the early part of the plot and much of the story revolves around resolving the tragedy of Susie’s death and her family moving on with their lives. It allowed the reader to experience the horror of a life taken cruelly and how disturbed serial killers really are. There is much detail and description about Susie’s murder and how demented her murderer is.
The end is bittersweet with the resolution of grief and loss, making the family stronger than ever. The murderer gets his payback, and the family is unharmed physically with love renewed and disagreements resolved. Susie’s heaven is finally at peace and she is able to move on. Sometimes tragic incidents happen in families but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
