In Woodrell's novel, Winter's Bone, we see many sides to the main character Ree Dolly. More particularly, how she shows her tenderness towards different people. When it comes to her brothers, Sonny and Harold, she constantly cares for them. She takes care of them through teaching them life skills because she wants a better life for them. For example, "Ree's grand hope was the these boys would not be dead to wonder by age twelve, dulled to life, empty to kindness, boiling with mean" (8). She hopes that if she takes care of them properly they will not end up in the same illegal family business. Another lesson she teaches her brothers is how to take care of their mom, Connie. She tells them "might could mix you some later-- but now you watch this. Watch how to do her hair" (40). Although she doesn't tenderly care for them, she cares enough to want more for them in their life. She hopes that they have a better life than her. Ree's tenderness is quite different towards her best friend, Gail. Unlike with her brothers, Ree shows affectionate tenderness towards Gail when she embraces her throughout the novel. After Gail finds out that her husband is cheating on her she comes back to Ree, "she held the shotgun swaying low and leaned to kiss the crown of Gail's head . . . I knew you'd get back to yourself'n show up for me" (80). Throughout the novel, we see how Ree and Gail's relationship is from the very beginning. When they are driving down to Reid's Gap, Ree reminisces about their childhood together, "the first time Ree kissed a man it was not a man, but Gail acting as a man" (87). Their relationship currently is almost as close when Gail's husband leaves her for coming home too late. After that happened, "Ree waved her inside and threaded through the to bed and crawled yawning under the heavy quilts"(101). Throughout the whole novel, Woodrell's shows how Ree's tenderness is different towards different people. She is continuously caring for her brother's by teaching them skills to help themselves and their family. Meanwhile, her tenderness towards Gail is more affectionate and prominent as they've been friends for a long time.
I agree with you that Ree expresses care differently to different people in her life especially considering her brothers and Gail. She has a tough love approach with her brothers but I think she still shows tenderness to them with the amount of care she shows them. She is tough on her brothers because as the only parental figure in their lives, it is up to her to instill the right kind of values and skills in them and set them up for life. As you quoted, “Ree’s grand hope was that these boys would not be dead to wonder by age twelve, dulled to life empty of kindness, boiling with mean” (Woodrell, 8). This is a big fear of Ree’s because so many Dolly kids are that way. Another relationship in the novel that proves that tenderness comes in many forms is Ree and Teardrop’s relationship. At the beginning of the book, Ree was scared of Teardrop which is a weird dynamic for a niece and uncle to have but as the book progresses, their relationship develops and we see Teardrop exhibiting acts of tenderness towards Ree such as when he takes care of her while she is sick and comes to save her from Thump Milton’s house. We can see that Ree appreciates these actions from her last interaction with Teardrop - “[w]ithout hesitation or thought she sprang to him, spread her arms and held him tightly, smelled the raw scent of him, the sweat and smoke, the roiling blood and spirit of her own'' (Woodrell, 192). This book shows how tenderness comes in different forms and how small acts of tenderness can influence peoples’ lives.
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