Table of ContentsPlotProtagonistAntagonistsThe Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by American writer Alice Sebold. It's the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal paradise as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death. The novel received widespread critical praise and became a bestseller immediately after its release. The book is a determined reiteration of innocence, a scathing celebration of something that is in no way mutilated or broken, but which recurs regularly: the notion of the North American family, dysfunctional though it may be, but nonetheless pure and good. It's a crucial celebration, often vivid, sometimes moving, loud and sweet, but one that should be treated with a bit of unease, especially considering the way the narrative is presented with its villain, the stranger, who is identified by Susie's family by instinct after they simply perceive the man as being a little strange, and at the same time strange, malevolent. “Why,” my father wondered, “did people trust the police so much?” Why not trust your instincts? It was Mr. Harvey and he knew it. so do readers, because Susie told them on page six - and it's a fait accompli who is bad and who is good. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The title of the novel is taken from a quote at the end of the story when Susie reflects on the new strength of her friends and family after her death. Late in the novel, as her family celebrates together, Susie finally reveals to readers what the title means to her: These were the beautiful bones that had grown around my absence [...]. And I began to see things in a way that allowed me to experience the world without me. (23.97) This is a very abstract quote, something you would expect from a ghost, but when you follow it closely. It is clear that Susie is saying that a) she sees her loved ones and their stories as the bones of a body of earthly happiness, of life; and b) she can stop hovering over them anxiously because they will be perfectly fine. But the sentence that follows the above complicates things. Susie says, “The events brought about by my death were just the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable point in the future. » (23.97) We thought about it a lot, even had a few meetings about it, and came to the conclusion that Susie is waiting for the day when her loved ones will all have died with her; then the “body” will be “whole”. It sounds morbid, but it's natural for the dead. We think that's a good thing. In Susie's growing understanding of the world, human life is very short and is followed by a seemingly eternal afterlife. Thus, death is no longer something to fear, it is counter-intuitive because it is only the consequence of life and existence as we know it. Yet no matter how hard she tries, Susie can't help but want her and her loved ones to be in the same place. . Hence his wishes for their death, as well as for their happy life. She knows she can't come back to them, so they have to come to her. The Plot The structure of the plot is very important in how the story unfolds because it illustrates exactly how events follow one another. The story takes on much more energy and flow when told by a girl in paradise, a girl who is "trapped" in her own personalized paradise because she clings to the past. The story is written in a very interesting way where Susie looks down on her family andcan see everything she does. Each time something happens, she adds to it by telling a very distinct memory or story. It's like looking into a person's head. Because the book gives such precise details that draw an image and a feeling. The significance of the plot having begun with Susie telling readers that she is in heaven indicates a loss of innocence and, in a way, warns readers of what is to follow in the chapter, it s In other words, it acts as a warning. It's a powerful start that shows readers what's to come. The plot is written in this form because the author wanted it to have an intellectual value in the reader's head after reading the story. Although this story is not based on a true story, there are hundreds of thousands of people like Mr. Harvey. People who prey on little girls and make them feel uncomfortable in their own homes and Ms. Seblod wanted to shine a light on how these dirty people get away with acts like these. It is also a very good warning for young women who find themselves in these situations, it is like a book that will burn into the memory of some women an itch deep in their brain. A bittersweet reminder that they are not the only ones going through this. The author really wanted to focus on this because when she was little, something similar happened to her and she wanted to shed light and normalize this topic so that when it happens to other girls, they feel safe. feel comfortable talking about it with a trusted adult. The protagonist Susie Salmon is a 14-year-old girl, described as having a lot of "spunk" (Alice Sebold p. 7) by her father. The energetic young photographer, always very eager for knowledge. She was raped and murdered on December 6, 1973. As a new spirit in Heaven, Susie gives us a deep understanding of each member of her family and how they deal with her death. Susie doesn't want to die, but she must learn to accept the fact that she is really gone and must say goodbye to the people she loves. When Susie is on Earth, her dreams are pretty typical of a well. -a well-adjusted and talented girl. The high school is the central point of his immediate plans. In her earthly life, she sees the mediocrity of middle school fading into the past, as she becomes the queen of high school. This is why, in his first sky, “all the buildings looked like suburban high schools […] built in the 1960s” (2.1). She is gifted with the camera and learns from photographing her mother, Abigail, that a photo can reveal a person's inner needs and desires. The photos Susie leaves behind of her mother help her father, Jack, understand Abigail. This understanding leads to a strengthening of their relationship. Susie carries this photographic eye with her to heaven, and she often tells her story in image form, as highlighted in one of the rare chapters titled "Snapshots." Susie is obsessed with design and arrangement. She sees the elements of the world as bones or pieces of structures being built. The photos she leaves behind, the photos of Len Fenerman's dead, and all the metaphorical photos she takes of the sky are powerful, layered structures in the body of the novel. As she moves forward in time into the afterlife, her perceptions become more acute. Thus offering us the fascinating idea that our talents and interests continue to grow after we die. If Susie were a nonfictional victim, we would never talk about her as a tragic hero with fatal flaws. But since she is a book character and she presents herself to us as such, we have no choice..