Meaning Behind the title "Winter's Bone"

 

The novel “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell is filled with imagery that invokes images of vast and dreary winter landscapes that are meant to be daunting and deadly backdrops for all of the events that unfold. From the very first pages in the book, Woodrell describes the scene where we meet the main character, Ree, with, “snow clouds had replaced the horizon, capped the valley darkly, and chafing wind blew so the hung meat twirled from jiggling branches” (Woodrell 3). This scene not only highlights important information about Ree, as she is taking care of the rest of her family despite the brutal coming winter, but also emphasizes the direness of the situation the Dolly family is about to find itself in. But what I think is most interesting about the setting is that the coming winter is ultimately what forces Ree’s hand to work as hard as she can to find her father, Jessup.

               Without the impending doom of winter, being kicked out of her house with her mother and two younger brothers would still be an awful outcome, but certainly wouldn’t be the death sentence that Ree sees it as. She says in many sections of the book that she has to find her father, lest they be thrown out of the house “to live in the fields… like dogs. Like fuckin’ dogs,” (134). This quote comes from her brief conversation with Thump Milton after she had been beaten and the collective families were debating killing her for seeking information. Not only does this illustrate details about Ree’s character and determination, but it underlines her driving force; without help, her family will not survive the winter. It is ultimately this driving motivation that allows Ree to overcome her obstacles and the families that stand in her way, as she is able to save her family. This is the “bone” that winter is tossing to her. It is a bleak way to look at the situation (maybe even a little sarcastic, according to Woodrell himself), but it does help illustrate that this story does not carry as much weight if it were in another setting. “Winter’s Bone” needs to be set in the vast, empty, tundra-like Ozark winter to help explain Ree’s seemingly unending conviction.