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The Salmon Family In The Lovely Bones

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In Alice Sebold’s novel “The Lovely Bones” the Salmon family has to find their own way to cope with the loss of Susie. The Salmon family was built on a weak foundation ready to crumble under any extra pressure. The biggest fracture was that her mother, Abigail, wanted a career not a family. The event of her first child’s death brings her resentment to the surface. This triggers her affair and causes her to feel guilty which eventually leads to her abandoning her family. Her father becomes consumed with the loss of his daughter withdrawing from his wife. Her sister, Lindsey, is the strongest of the family and has the most to cope with living in this small town: the heartbreak of Susie’s tragic murder, her mom abandoning her, and the actions that Jack performs. Not to mention she’s about to begin puberty without a female role model. She is by far the most noble and passionate in her grief. She learns to put outsiders in their place and stand by her beliefs. She learns to thicken her skin and deal her circumstances without looking weak. …show more content…
21) but then almost becomes a theme and repeated several times later. Even after the elbow is found the family holds onto the hope that she is still alive. Abigail is the first to demonstrate her refusal to believe that the loss of her daughter is a permanent situation. When detective Len brought word of the new finding, Abigail “crossed her arms and braced for another inconsequential detail in which others invested meaning.” (pg. 27) Just like Abigail, Jack will deny all evidence that will prove that Susie is, in fact, dead. Lindsey continues to eavesdrop, then shuts out the information she gets about

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