Essay on Analysis Of Salvage The Bones By Jesmyn Ward

The life cycle of a woman: they are born, they grow up, find a partner, get married and have children. In some situations, this ‘normal’ cycle may be altered or changed. Teen pregnancies occur regularly worldwide and the number is frantically growing. Esch, in the novel Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, is fifteen years old; it is extremely difficult for her to keep her pregnancy a secret for long. Esch and her brother’s dog, China, both coincidentally become mothers in the novel. Knowing she is pregnant helps Esch overcome obstacles in the novel and go to great depths to ensure a healthy growth for her baby. Her motherly instinct is to try her hardest to tell the father about her pregnancy, provide for China’s puppies, and to help her baby grow healthily, even through the storm. As with many teen pregnancies, telling the father is not as easy as it seems. Manny, the father of Esch’s baby, does not really care about her; he often uses her for his pleasure and does not have true feelings towards her, as he already has a girlfriend. When Esch finds out she is pregnant, her first thought is to let Manny know, which she comes to the conclusion, is not a practical idea. When she tells “him about [her] secret”, she wonders if “he will turn to [her]” (page 56). Esch claims to ‘love’ Manny, yet she is constantly questioning him to herself; just because they engage in sexual activity, does not mean he does or has to ‘love’ her back. With questioning comes even more questioning. Esch…