Sickness is, through the events of Ward’s Salvage the Bones, a recurring theme: Esch realises that she is pregnant and gets sick because of it; and Daddy loses his fingers, getting sick too. Salvage the Bones is a novel set in the mid 2000’s during the previous days before Hurricane Katrina. During Salvage the Bones, illness creates difficulties both in long term and short term that disrupt the family, but after the family overcomes these illnesses, the family becomes stronger.
During the second chapter of the book, we become aware of Esch’s pregnancy, a pregnancy which continues affecting her through the book: she is almost unable to outrun the dog chasing her in chapter 4 and continuously feels nauseous. During chapter 4, Skeetah starts to suspect of Esch: “You ran slow yesterday.”(Ward, 86), until he finally says his thoughts on the penultimate chapter of the book: “She’s pregnant.”(Ward, 234). Her illness caused by the pregnancy created consequences through the whole book, as things could have turned out differently if Skeetah hadn’t realised that …show more content…
At the beginning of chapter 9, Esch wakes up to “someone throwing up in the bathroom”(Ward, 177), and as she goes to investigate she discovers Daddy “with one hand on the back of the bowl, one knee on the floor.”(Ward, 177). This disease affects the family during the following days. Randall complains that Skeetah isn’t helping out in the house to prepare for the hurricane, which creates tension between them. In addition to this, when the hurricane hits, the house isn’t as prepared, but it could have been if Daddy hadn’t been sick. This ultimately leads to Esch falling in the water and Skeetah giving up on China to save her. This unites and pulls the family even closer, as Daddy realises what is really important to him and cares more about his
During the second chapter of the book, we become aware of Esch’s pregnancy, a pregnancy which continues affecting her through the book: she is almost unable to outrun the dog chasing her in chapter 4 and continuously feels nauseous. During chapter 4, Skeetah starts to suspect of Esch: “You ran slow yesterday.”(Ward, 86), until he finally says his thoughts on the penultimate chapter of the book: “She’s pregnant.”(Ward, 234). Her illness caused by the pregnancy created consequences through the whole book, as things could have turned out differently if Skeetah hadn’t realised that …show more content…
At the beginning of chapter 9, Esch wakes up to “someone throwing up in the bathroom”(Ward, 177), and as she goes to investigate she discovers Daddy “with one hand on the back of the bowl, one knee on the floor.”(Ward, 177). This disease affects the family during the following days. Randall complains that Skeetah isn’t helping out in the house to prepare for the hurricane, which creates tension between them. In addition to this, when the hurricane hits, the house isn’t as prepared, but it could have been if Daddy hadn’t been sick. This ultimately leads to Esch falling in the water and Skeetah giving up on China to save her. This unites and pulls the family even closer, as Daddy realises what is really important to him and cares more about his