“Salvage the Bones” is a women's coming-of-age fiction novel that follows the events of a poor African-American family living in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, in the year 2005. By faced with the tragedy of the twelve days following the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Esch is a fifteen year old girl who lives with her family consisting of her father and three brothers and is considered the only girl in the family after her mother “Mom” unfortunately died while she was giving birth to her little brother of Esch, Junior. Growing up without a mother not only taught Esch to be independent, but at the same time she learned to become a woman. In an interview with Michel Martin, Ward says, "Well, I had the character of Esch in my head for a while and I knew I wanted to write a novel about her, about a girl growing up in a world full of men." .”Esch is often surrounded by men, grew up without a maternal figure but is raised with her brothers, Skeetah, Junior and Randall by her alcoholic father. On top of that she is surrounded by other men in her life, her brother friends Big Henry, Marquise and Manny. Esch basically has to resign herself and live with all these men in her life, introducing the all-time famous sport, basketball, which dog fighting can be disturbing to some people. “What China is doing is fighting, as if it were born to fight.” It's difficult in Esch's position because she is the only female in the family and is still trying to learn the process of being a woman and that isn't it either, children without their mom struggle to take care of each other and not there is almost nothing left in the family. At the beginning of the novel China, Skeetah's beloved pit bull is giving birth to puppies while surrounded by all the family members. “Now China gives as it once took away, giving where it once stole. She is giving birth to puppies. (Ward 1)After the puppies are born, it is very hot around August. Hot enough to boil the water inside a well. Esch begins to not feel very well, she experiences the first symptoms of pregnancy such as nausea, dizziness and dizziness, the most common symptoms. Skeetah then asks Esch if he wants to come with him to the supermarket to get some dog food, while in the grocery store Esch secretly has his hands in his pockets, takes a pregnancy test out of the box and sticks it in a pregnancy test belt . the shorts he was wearing. Now the pregnancy symptoms are starting to make themselves felt even more, at first she blames China for how bad she feels, but then suggests getting tested, Esch vomits every other day, doesn't eat much because you tend to get disgusted by certain foods during pregnancy. Shortly afterwards Esch finally takes a pregnancy test and it comes back positive!“Two lines mean you are pregnant. You're pregnant. I'm pregnant. I sit down and bend over on my knees, rubbing my eyes against my kneecaps. The terrible truth of what I am burns like a dry autumn fire in my stomach, devouring all the fallen pine needles. There's something there." After Esch finds out she's pregnant, she processes everything at once thinking about what it will be like for her to raise a child, without having her mother's guidance. Will she be able to handle this new chapter in life? her life to enter motherhood? She thinks to herself. Although she is surrounded by men, who can be a positive or negative role model for her, it is the only thing that will be able to give her an example of what it means to become a woman and at the same time how being a mother are those around her. When Esch begins to see what is out there to help her get through the process of motherhood andfemininity, she has the memory of her mother with her. Even if mom is not physically present in the family's life, she is there with them spiritually and mentally. Going back to the beginning of the book, when China is giving birth to the cubs, Esch remembered her mother: “What China is doing has nothing to do with what Mother did when she had my youngest brother, Junior . Mother gave birth in the house where she gave birth to all of us, here in this gap in the woods that her father cleared and on which he built what we now call the Fossa. We begin to see the new journey ahead for Esch as she transitions to mother and woman on her own. Mom is considered to be that type of mom who is a strong woman who is not afraid of anything, she is more than willing to do what needs to be done without taking no for an answer. Mom would not remain silent about everything she will defend herself and manage her affairs. The death of her mother now means that Esch takes on that role of mother which actually helps her at the same time, she is a woman who will never be forgotten and will always remain in everyone's memory. When Esch takes care of his father, he is reminded of flashbacks of his mother, he sees how attentive and caring she is just like his mother. “Nothing has changed here since Mom died: There are little glass candle holders with tall peach candles stuck in them and two small bouquets of fake flowers in squat vases that look like cups that Mom placed at either end of the dresser. Esch considers mom as a woman who is a great mother to her children, a wife to a husband, loved by her family, a strong and independent woman who makes sure to do everything she could do for what was ultimately best for his children. . a New York Times article, a mother's influence is so important and is considered to have a huge impact on a child's life. And it goes perfectly with this novel because the article mentions a single father with children referring to Esch's father“If a son or daughter who loses a mother never receives adequate replacement maternal care, the loss can cause long-term damage to self-esteem, ability to relate to others , general sense of security and ability to trust others”. This however has a negative impact on Esch because even though she has no longer had her mother for a long time now, she lives and continues her maternal legacy based on her memories where it is what keeps her going in life. Through the eyes of every child, mom is seen as the best mother in the world, one of the people they look up to most, the greatest role model anyone could ever have. As Ward was writing this novel, she knew for a fact that Mom would play a huge role in Esch's life by being the perfect role model for her, for her to be the one she should look up to when it came to motherhood and femininity. Besides being the mom the perfect model of motherhood and femininity that Esch can take inspiration from, she is also looking for other good role models, which is not a bad thing, it's always good to keep your options out but keep in mind that not everything dating will leave you on a positive note. One model that isn't so positive for Esch to look to is that of Jason and the Argonauts story, Madea. Madea was one of those who Esch met unexpectedly after Esch looked at her mother with so many positives. aspects that are still remembered through his memories. After Esch reads the story of Jason and the Argonauts in his English class, in the story both Medea and Jason run away together to get away from Medea's father. In addition to slowing down the king, they both ended up killing her brother. Instead of this story having a happy ending like typical crazy love stories, Jasonshe finds herself with another woman who falls madly in love with her, obviously leaving Medea heartbroken. And so Medea's way of getting "Vengeance" after getting her heart broken, she kills Jason's new woman and Madea kills her own children that she had.along with Jason leaving him with nothing left. The encounter with Medea leaves Esch wondering: is motherhood really like this? You can know that Medea sets a bad example for Esch in this case, because Esch is telling her life story to the fact that Medea points out that she sees Jason as Manny and Medea as Esch. In Joseph Noshpitz's book The Journey of Child Development, he informs that when you are a little girl you are still trying to figure out things in life, the way things happen/work, etc. These fictional books with fictional characters have a huge impact in the lives of these young girls play versions of female gender roles as some can be easily identifiable with them just like Medea is with Esch. “When Medea falls in love with Jason, she takes me by the throat. I see her... She has magic, she can bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all his power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a strong wind; makes it double in two. I know her." Manny is the father of Esch's child that she is carrying and sees his own reflection in the character of Medea. For her, for example, she considers herself Medea, Manny is Jason, and Esch's little brother is like the Medea's brother. He only thinks of Jason, his face red, his heart on fire, engulfed in sweet pain. The goddess hit her with love and I had no choice. My stomach was an animal of its own , and Manny's thoughts kept surfacing like swimmers in my brain; I had my tender pain. I slid the book between the wall and the bed and slipped into the kitchen, hiding Dad's supplies for the hurricane Skeetah as Medea went to her brother when they escaped during their great adventure with the Argonauts She sees this story more as her love situation with Manny, but reading how Medea took part in her brother's murder with Jason, realizing. the horrible things she would do so she could be with Jason. Still. It's like he's under the covers with me, we're both sweating to the water. To get away from her, from the smell of Manny that lingered on me one night and the next morning, I get up. Esch can't turn into someone like Medea, the way Medea was madly in love with Jason to the point where things went too far causing her to kill the children they had together. Remembering her mother "Mom" would never hurt a little girl like that for a man after being heartbroken. A good mother would never do what Medea did for a man. Esch initially thought that Medea was your ideal model of motherhood and femininity, but as has been said before, you can't always think that everything you see is a good thing. Another positive role model that Esch can look to for motherhood is China, Skeetah's pit bull. At the beginning of the novel, Esch is more focused on China as she has just given birth to puppies, she notices the respect China has for Skeetah“Skeetah ignores Junior because he is focused on China like a man focuses on a woman when he he feels that she is his, as is China. Randall says nothing but reaches through the door to stop Junior from entering. By the end of the novel “Salvage the Bones” Esch has made a lot of progress, over the course of the novel she has made little by little progress on what it means to become a woman and a mother at the same time willing to take the next step in her life. and learn on your own. With her mother's memories inside her she learned to follow in her mother's footsteps, one important thing is to be independent herself..