Throughout the book, Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, the main character Ree undergoes the steps in a hero’s journey. Ree undergoes this process because of the threat of her family’s house being repossessed thanks to her father skipping his court date and disappearing. Ree becomes a hero to her family and is willing to do anything to protect them. She took on the responsibility of taking care of her mentally challenged mother and younger brothers in the shadow of her father’s past sins. It was her persistence in helping her family that defines her as a hero.
She starts out in the Ordinary World, before Ree’s father had disappeared. This takes place before any true problems arise, there is no issue of the house being repossessed and everything …show more content…
Days later, Ree hears a knock at her door in the middle of the night and opens it to see Merab and the other two Thrump women. Ree, wielding a shotgun in her hand, asks them what they are doing. The Thrump women tell Ree to come with them and that they have the answer to her problems. Consequently, Ree refuses. Merab says, “We’ll carry you to your daddy’s bones, child. We know the place” (180). Seeing the opportunity, Ree reluctantly agrees. She gets in their car and has a bag put over her head. She asks why she has been blindfolded and is told it is so she does not try to go back to his body. Soon, they arrive at a frozen creek. Ree discovers from Merab that her father’s body is in the creek and that she has to get to him. Eventually, Ree gets a hold of his body and grabs his hand. To Ree’s horror, Merab pulls out a chainsaw and painfully watches as her father’s hands are sawed off. This serves as her Supreme Ordeal because it is the conflict that the entire story has been leading to. Ree returns with the prize, the prize being her father’s hands. These are used as the proof of his death to the sheriff, who asks how she acquired them. Ree lies and says that they had been flung onto the porch at night. With that the debt had been wiped and their property was
She starts out in the Ordinary World, before Ree’s father had disappeared. This takes place before any true problems arise, there is no issue of the house being repossessed and everything …show more content…
Days later, Ree hears a knock at her door in the middle of the night and opens it to see Merab and the other two Thrump women. Ree, wielding a shotgun in her hand, asks them what they are doing. The Thrump women tell Ree to come with them and that they have the answer to her problems. Consequently, Ree refuses. Merab says, “We’ll carry you to your daddy’s bones, child. We know the place” (180). Seeing the opportunity, Ree reluctantly agrees. She gets in their car and has a bag put over her head. She asks why she has been blindfolded and is told it is so she does not try to go back to his body. Soon, they arrive at a frozen creek. Ree discovers from Merab that her father’s body is in the creek and that she has to get to him. Eventually, Ree gets a hold of his body and grabs his hand. To Ree’s horror, Merab pulls out a chainsaw and painfully watches as her father’s hands are sawed off. This serves as her Supreme Ordeal because it is the conflict that the entire story has been leading to. Ree returns with the prize, the prize being her father’s hands. These are used as the proof of his death to the sheriff, who asks how she acquired them. Ree lies and says that they had been flung onto the porch at night. With that the debt had been wiped and their property was