Essay #3

Rysen Barnett

English 102

Cline

3/25/12           

Winter’s Bone Analysis

A price cannot be put on how important the unit of a family is. Families, whether good or bad, will produce children that grow into adults and will in turn have families of their own. One can be well educated at the finest schools, flourish financially, or have other desired possessions. However, if a person does not have a family, whether by blood, adoption, or figuratively, then that person truly has little in this world. Unfortunately there are too many families in today’s society that are broken, dysfunctional, and many that are torn apart by drugs. In a family there are specific roles to be played. A father has his responsibilities and a mother has hers. Children even share in some of the responsibility of the household. When the responsibilities of these roles are not properly distributed or heaved upon one person, the effects are horrific. Misplaced roles can affect a child’s psychological state, everyday choices, and all future decisions.

            It is clear within Winter’s Bone that Ree’s psychological state is a victim to her environment. The area a child grows up in will shape and mold that child. Ree is forced to be raised and raise her family within a meth induced culture. Due to this, much of Ree’s thinking and judgments are based on her experiences with her on family as they were on meth. For example, when Ree is riding with her relative to the place where her dad was last seen she harshly thinks he is driving somewhere secluded because he wants to have sex with her. This is a good example of how Ree’s thinking is skewed because her dysfunctional family has caused her to be defensive towards nearly all males. The way of thinking for a child who is under such circumstances such as Ree’s is very different than most. When Ree sees food she is not thinking if she herself is hungry or will be later, she is thinking about her brothers and mother as well. When Ree finds out that her house might be taken away she is not concerned with where she lives as much as she is concerned about her brothers and mother. A traditional teenage girl Ree’s age might worry about her social status, boyfriend, what college she wants to attend, hobbies, sports, etc. For Ree her sole concern is not with herself or her own needs, her concern and thoughts are for her brother and family as a whole. Her circumstances of poverty, as well as her being left to play the role of father, mother, sister, and sole provider of her household produce this way of thinking.

            Thoughts turn into actions. Ree is forced to have a sort of survival mentality as she goes through everyday life. All her decisions and actions within the novel are based on the negatives of the environment she is born into. Again, most children have choices set before them of attending school, maybe a part time job, sports, and perhaps chores. Ree’s responsibilities are to take care of her mentally incompetent mother, watch over her brothers, prepare them meals, teach them how to shoot, teach them how to hunt, clean, and survive on their own. Because Ree’s father left his family in the state he did, Ree being the oldest is forced to take the reins of the household and thus her actions and decisions become these instead of that of an ordinary teenage girl. Now there is no family that is perfect. Every family has their own problems. Every family will produce a child that is a product of that family’s characteristics. These characteristics are relational, financial, communication methods, size, religious views, political views, etc. The problem with Ree’s circumstance is that she is the product of a family that has an overwhelming sense of negativity and very dysfunctional. Basically her circumstances are affecting all her current decisions and actions.

            In addition to Ree’s present choices and decisions, her future ones are being affected as well. Ree states that she wants to go into the army. This may very well be a lifelong dream for Ree to serve her country through the military. However, I feel that her circumstances are more likely to have influenced her career choice. Being in the army provides nearly everything that Ree has never had in her life. Stability, guaranteed food and shelter, honor, respect, and even the closeness of a family. Either way she wants to get as far away from her current town as possible. This is all in part because she is overwhelmed with responsibility and the burden of running her household.

            Ree does not choose to be in these circumstances; rather she is hurled into them because her father abandons her family. Ree story is unfortunately today not an uncommon one. Many children are faced with overwhelming responsibilities because drugs have torn apart their family and changed all the roles.