As Susie leaves her body (pages 36-37), her soul touches a girl named Ruth, who will later become a main character in the story. Susie describes how, when each soul leaves its earthly body to ascend to Heaven, they often brush past and touch a human who is in close proximity to the scene of death. Susie and Ruth are never close in life, but after this experience Ruth feels close to Susie in a way. Ruth's mind is open to any possibility, including the idea that the dead sometimes communicate with the living. No one believes her, so she channels her thoughts into poetry and art.
I thought of A Raisin in the Sun when I read on page 42 that Susie, while alive, dreams of becoming a wildlife photographer. Knowing that she dies before ever having a chance to make her dream a reality, I thought to myself, "What happens to a dream deferred?"
Susie, while still alive, observes her mother one time without her mother being aware of it. Susie is frightened by the depth of feeling in her mother's eyes and takes a picture of Abigail, the woman. The click of Susie's camera "...startle(s) her into the mother of the birthday girl, owner of the happy dog, wife to the loving man, and mother again to another girl and a cherished boy. Homemaker. Gardener. Sunny neighbor. My mother's eyes were oceans, and inside them there was loss." (43, The Lovely Bones).
Susie's father, Jack, finds catharsis in destruction (page 46). He decides to clean out his office, which is filled with ships in bottles. It is a hobby he enjoys; the only other person in the family to share this interest is Susie, who is now gone. He smashes the bottles. As he surveys the wreckage, Susie's face is cast in each shard of glass. He laughs madly at this, and proceeds to Susie's bedroom, thoughts of further destruction in his mind. He is intercepted by Susie's little brother, Buckley, age 4. Jack becomes again the father he needs to be and puts his own pain on hold. He cannot dismiss having seen his dead daughter's face, though, and dwells on it.
Susie's soul, on her way to Heaven, touches Ruth. The two are never close in Susie's lifetime, but they form a connection after her death. What do you think about Sebold's take on the connection between the living and the dead?
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to Langston Hughes' full poem, "A Dream Deferred": http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm *You may need to copy and paste the link to your browser.
What are your thoughts on Susie's deferred dream of becoming a wildlife photographer?
I sometimes wish my daughter would recognize me as an autonomous individual, but regardless of age, I think we all want our moms to just be our moms and nothing else. It's comforting to know that there is at least one person who will never stop loving you for being you. Susie catches a glimpse of her mother without the usual smiling mask; it unnerves her. What is the bond of the mother/daughter relationship, in your opinion?
Susie repeats throughout the book that her father is not a violent man; he is not one to fly into a rage at another person. How do you view his smashing of his entire ships-in-bottles collection?