Teen Pregnancy In 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 …show more content…
Skeetah, Esch’s older brother by a year, is not particularly interested in the immaculate health of China’s pups; he is focused on the health of China so she can participate in dog fights. When Skeetah separates one of China’s puppies from her and places it in a bucket up on a shelf, Esch cannot “help the skin puckering over [her] stomach, up [her] arms” (page 43). Since one of the pups got parvo, Skeetah does not want China, or any of the other pups, to catch it; Esch knows in her heart that it is not okay. Nella, named by Esch, will eventually die in the bucket and there is nothing she can do about it. She knows she is “probably going to cry when Nella goes” (page 50). Knowing there is not one thing she can do to help Nella, Esch feels terrible and knows she will be upset when she passes. When Skeetah attempts to give China medicine to prevent her from getting parvo, Esch stands there, hopeful that it will work. Even though Skeetah asked her to go grab something, she “still [did not] want to leave the shed” (page 99). Being by China and her puppies sides, is what Esch wants to be there for. Just as she wants to care for China’s pups, she wants to care for her own even …show more content…
A mother does anything in the world for her children: she will laugh with them even if she is sad, she will give up anything, and she will even risk her life for them. Esch is definitely struggling with telling her family about her pregnancy. Watching what China goes through, makes Esch realize how much of a connection a mother has with their offspring. The novel Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward creates a great motherly image, through the metaphor of China giving birth as Esch becomes pregnant. The moment Esch realizes that she is a mother just like China is the moment she realizes that China and her are in this