Inequality of race, class, and gender are at the forefront of Salvage the Bones, a novel written by Jesmyn Ward about an African American family living in New Orleans. Throughout the book Hurricane Katrina looms closer and closer, until it finally hits. Esch is the second youngest child, and the only daughter, of Daddy and Esch’s late mother. Her younger brother Junior and older brothers Skeetah and Randall spend much of their time in the Pit, what they call their house and the area around it. Skeetah owns a dog specifically breed to fight, China, who is giving birth to puppies early on in the book. Randall and Skeetah’s friend Manny is cheating on his girlfriend with Esch, who loves him a lot more that he loves her. By having China and Esch both gain strength through motherhood and using imagery of powerful goddesses, Ward displays women as strong beings ultimately making the message of Salvage the Bones a feminist one. Esch has been trapped in a relationship with Manny, in which he has all of the power. Esch, knowing that she is pregnant with Manny’s kid, goes to Randall’s basketball game. During the game, Manny coaxes Esch into having sex with him in the bathroom. While Esch usually submits completely to Manny, this time she will “pull hard, and my hands slide along his face. I grab again. He will look at me”(Ward 146). Esch has found the power to resist Manny’s complete domination through being a mother. Beforehand, Esch was completely powerless against the advances of
