The novel, Winter's Bone, is one that delves into a society located in the Ozark's in Missouri that is anything but picturesque. Within the dreary, drug swarmed town, there lives the main character, a sixteen year old girl by the name of Ree. She proves throughout the course of the story to be extremely strong and independent for her age, wielding wisdom beyond her years. While it appears in the book that the men are the ones who hold lots of the power in the Dolly clan, Ree proves that women are able to possess power as well.
Although she was not given much of a choice, she rose to be the matriarch in her family. She serves as a mother to her younger brothers, due to the fact that they all lack any real authority figures. Additionally, Ree constantly appears to be fearless, by going home to home to those who frighten her, in an attempt to find her father and ensure their home is not taken from them. For example, "Ma'am, I got a real bad need to talk with Thump Milton...I need to, I really, really need to, ma'am. Please—I am a Dolly! Some of our blood at least is the same. That’s s’posed to mean somethin’—ain’t that what is always said" (Woodrell 59). This is just one of the examples where Ree trudges her way over to another lead to find someone that may be able to lead her to her father. She is persistent and desperate to save not only her family, but herself as well. She encounters many who purposefully mislead her, such as her cousin, Blonde Milton, as well as people who simply do not have her best interests at heart. This desperation she experiences on her endeavors drives her, and allows her to prove her resilience and her own sense of power. She shows that she is capable of doing things on her own, and does not need the help of others to achieve what she sets out to do.
In the end she proves herself, when she is able to bring Jessup, her father back, and does justice by herself and her family. They are able to keep their home, and for the first time, have slim opportunities they did not have before. Although a young girl, Ree was able to provide for her family more than any other parental figure she had. It is this that proves her power in of itself, she didn't need her dad, her mom, or any Dolly men to help bring herself peace, in the end she only needed herself.
Ree definitely proves herself to be a strong and capable woman throughout the novel, subverting gendered expectations. A small moment I really liked that showed this was when Teardrop is watching over Ree after she’s been beaten and he says, “You took that beatin’ good as most men I’ve seen” (pg. 148). Along with many other moments, it shows that Ree is not just a strong woman but just a strong person.
ReplyDeleteMore than that though, I noticed how Ree essentially stepped into both parental roles on top of her investigation into Jessup’s disappearance, in that she takes on not only the traditionally domestic roles of a mother but also the protective role of the father in her parents’ absence. At the beginning of the book, Ree chops wood, something usually left for men to do, and later, teaches Sonny and Harold how to use weapons, just as Jessup taught her (pg. 9, 79). However, in the house, Ree teaches her younger brothers how to cook, and does her mom’s hair and makeup, chores which mothers typically teach their children (pg. 19, 40). Ree and her brothers have neither their mother nor their father to help them, so Ree, as only one of capable age, proves herself able to step into the roles of both the mother and father.