Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone is an ominous fiction work that explores family dynamics. With a mentally ill mother, an unreliable drug-dealing father, and two impressionable younger brothers, sixteen-year-old Ree is thrust into adulthood and responsibility. As the novel progresses, Ree becomes the sole caretaker and provider for her family. In Winter’s Bone, Ree’s persistent efforts to pass on life skills to her brothers and her desire for her brothers to live healthier lifestyles than other men in the community highlight Ree’s position as the primary parental figure in her family.
While teaching her brothers necessary survival skills, Ree is often tough on her brothers, but they respect her authority. Ree treats her brothers like adults to prepare them for the harsh environment in which they live. For example, when Ree cooks dinner, she commands, “Haul them chairs over here and stand on ‘em with your eyes peeled and watch every goddam thing I do. Learn how I make it, then you both’ll know,” (Woodrell 19). Here, Ree insists that her brothers watch her cook. Additionally, Ree uses a stern tone with her brothers. Ree’s use of “goddam” emphasizes how crucial it is for her brothers to watch her prepare the food. Since cooking is an essential skill, and Ree is committed to educating her brothers on survival, Ree finds it imperative to pass on her cooking knowledge. It is clear that Ree’s ultimate goal in sharing skills with her brothers is to prepare them for self-sufficiency and success in the future.
Ree’s parental role in her brothers’ lives is magnified not only by her desire for her brothers to be self-sufficient, but her hope that her brothers can have superior futures than typical community members. The standard lifestyle of residents in Ree’s community consists of violence and drug abuse. Therefore, in hopes of helping her brothers avoid unnecessary violence, Ree educates her brothers on shooting guns. For example, after witnessing the prevalent danger in her community, Ree declares, “Now’s when you boys start learnin’ how to shoot guns at what needs shootin’,” (Woodrell 78). Again, Ree assumes the parental role by teaching her brothers how to shoot, which is a critical skill in their community. More importantly, the italicized “needs” highlights that Ree helps her brothers understand when shooting is necessary. Here, Ree instills values into her brothers by explaining that violence is not the only option. Ultimately, Ree’s condemnation of needless violence and commitment to improving her brothers’ future lifestyles asserts Ree’s position as a devoted parental figure for her brothers.
Throughout Winter’s Bone, Ree assumes an essential parental role in her household by instilling vital survival skills in her brothers. Furthermore, Ree earns the position of a committed parent through her desire for an improved future for her brothers. Although Ree was forced into the parental role, Ree raises her brothers to the best of her ability by passing down her knowledge. In Winter’s Bone, Ree is not only a parent but an admirable parent.
This was a very good post. I truly appreciate your point about how, although Ree appears gruff and almost mean, her actual actions are rooted in love and care and attention toward her brothers. Your post could have been even more interesting if you had spent some time focusing on how and why Ree was forced to essentially become a parent - emphasizing the cyclical nature of her situation. Ree is incredibly intent on making sure her brothers - and herself - do not replicate the lifestyles of those around them and of their more direct relatives. She wants to break the cycle and lead a better, healthier life. However, because we observe her harshness, we see that she will likely never be able to extricate herself from the harshness of the environment in which she came into consciousness. Even if her intentions and actions are pure, she will always be impacted by the circumstances that informed - and arguably stole - her adolescence.
ReplyDeleteYour point about Ree treating her brothers like adults continues to expand on the theme of stolen or lost adolescence - how cruel environments like the one in which the book is set cause children to have to grow up much faster than children in different, safer environments. Even while she is seeking to protect them and break the family cycle of cruelty and corruption, she is once again inadvertently playing into the same cycle that she is attempting to break. This plays into the overarching theme that Ree and her brothers, even if they are able to escape, will always solidly be products of their upbringing.
I really liked this post. I liked how you pointed out Ree’s ways of acting like a parent. It is clear throughout the book that she seems to want to get out, so her preparing her brother’s for self sufficiency when she isn’t there is perfect. One thing that you pointed out that I liked and did not realize was the italicized “needs” in the quote about Ree teaching her brothers how to shoot. When reading this, I did not realize this along with the importance of this, but knowing what to shoot and when to shoot is something that would be very important when living alone. Overall, I like the way that you point out the ways that Ree acts as a mother, ultimately helping her brothers. Something you said that I liked was that she is an admirable parent. I agree very much with this. She is admirable because she is in a very bad and hard situation, but she does her best and sacrifices for her family to help them and prepare them for the future. This is very admirable. I feel like many other readers would agree with this fact that she is admirable and a character that they like to see as a parental figure.
ReplyDelete