The Reality of The Lovely Bones

In my opinion, the characters that are illustrated through the words of Alice Sebold in The Lovely Bones, are as realistic and ultimately human as any fiction character can be. The Lovely Bones portrays a family dealing with the omnipresent repercussions of losing a family member. Although, each individual family member deals with his or her loss differently, everyone is affected. There is one particular character, although not a favorable one in the least, that represents all that is human.
Abigail Salmon, the mother of murder and rape victim Susie Salmon, finds it impossible to deal with the absence of her daughter. Before the death of Susie, Abigail had already lost her identity in exchange for motherhood. She is held captive by her children and their needs. After the death of her daughter, Abigail began to look for comfort in people and places that were hopeful. She did not want to deal with the pain and suffering that went along with the death of her daughter. She needed to escape, even if that meant leaving the rest of her family to dwell in their loss. Abigail found her first escape in her daughter’s murder detective, Detecive Len Fenerman. There is nothing more human than wanting to forget and escape the pressures of life. The author never vocalized the escape method that Abigail seemed to be using in her recovery, but the vivid descriptions that Alice Sebold gave about Abigail were enough to get the message across to the reader.
I believe that looking for comfort and relaxation in areas that are not a part of your everyday scene is a very human action. Abigail needs an escape and she needs it to be from an outside source. Sebold shows this sense of relaxation in Abigail when she is in the presence of Len Fenerman when she says, “When she saw Len approaching from the end of the long white corridor, she relaxed.... his name had been the sigh she needed.” Abigail needs someone to lean on that is not is the midst of the tragedy that has befallen her and her family. It is almost like an act of rebellion. Something she is doing to feel alive after feeling dead inside for so long. Sebold describes Abigail’s eyes as being deep sea blue but dead and empty.
Lindsay salmon, Abigail Salmon’s daughter, is an additional a character that is using her own individual way of coping with the death of her older sister and mentor, Susie. Lindsay does not want to be associated with the death of her sister. Lindsay wants to look strong and unaffected. She doesn’t want to be known as “the dead girl’s sister” for the rest of her life. She deeply loved her sister, but Lindsay is her own person and she wants to be treated has a human— an equal— not one in mourning. Lindsay deals with the loss of her sister realistically. When she is called in to the principal’s office at her school, Lindsay is not afraid to use the word “dead”. At such a young age, Lindsay has come to face what it takes her parents years to face. This is very human because, in my experiences, children are more capable of facing reality for what it is. Children often do not connect with the sentimentality that is involved with such a loss. Lindsay felt no need to “sugar coat” the death if her sister. It happened and she is prepared and mature enough to deal with this reality.
Alice Sebold, having gone through the situation that her protagonist Susie Salmon goes through, is able to put such life and reality into her characters. She is able to identify how exactly different personalities cope with such a dark and meaningful loss. This insight that Alice Sebold has, serves as an amazing basis in getting the reader emotionally connected to the characters in The Lovely Bones. (657)