Characters - The Lovely Bones

There are many different character in The Lovely Bones. They all portray a different type of personality and contribute something interesting to the story.

The main character is Susie Salmon. In the beginning of the story, Susie is just your average, Innocent 14-year old girl. The story progresses quickly and before you know is she has gotten murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. This was very random and out of the ordinary. You don't really see her personality until she is welcomed into heaven. She is quiet, reserved and optimistic. This leads me into the next character.

Mr. Harvey, is the one who killed Susie, but the only people who know that is Mr. Harvey and Susie. This means that he hasn't been blamed guilty. He just happens to be Susie's family next door neighbor. He is also reserved and quiet. If you ask me, I think he is very creepy. Toward the middle of the book Susie's dad, Jack Salmon, starts to become suspicious of Mr. Harvey. Eventually he says something to the detective, Len Fenerman, but sadly he informed to Jack, "There is nothing, no matter how much we strech it, to connect him to Susie's death"(151). Something else interesting about Mr. Harvey is while Susie is in heaven she sees him killing animals such as small rabbits. She begins to believe this is his way of resiting the earge to kill actual people.

The next character is Lindsey. She is a year younger than Susie. She seem so be turning into a rebellious teenager after her sister's death. When Susie first died her entire family was in complete shock, they couldn't believe what they heard. But Lindsey kind of didn't want to talk to anyone about it. She snapped at the school principle when he asked her if she wanted to play on the girls soccer team, "'I'd say it when would be pretty hard to play soccer on the soccer field when it's approximately twenty feet from where my sister was supposedly murdered.'"(36).

Predictions - They Lovely Bones

So Far In The Lovely Bones Susie Is dead and Mr. Harvey, the one who killed her, is not yet a suspect. I think that Mr. Harvey will eventually get caught for killing Susie by the end. The detective says to Susie's father, "'He's odd, i agree, but as far as we know he isn't a killer'"(152). He dumped her body in a sink-hole so it is virtually impossible to get Susie's body back. But, by the end I think all the clues will come together and he will be blamed for her death; even considering Len, the detective, said there is no way he could have murdered her. I don't understand how is able to live with himself knowing he killed an innocence girl coming home from school.

The Lovely Bones Movie Trailer:

 

 

 

We all have our own version of heaven

Every body's heaven is different. At least this saying seems true because nobody has came back to describe heaven. In the book The lovely Bones Susie describes her heaven as,"My favorite part was how the colored blocks were turquoise and orange, just like the blocks in Fairfax High so I could imagine myself there"(17). After some time in heaven Susie realizes,"The javelin-throwers and the shot-putters and the boys who played basketball...were all in their own version of heaven"(18). Susie is describing that every bodys heaven is different in their own special way. No matter if you believe in heaven or not, we will never truly know for certain if it is real, but if it isn't real will it really matter? When we die and there isn't a heaven we still won't know because we will be dead.

This past weekend I saw a movie called Heaven Is For Real. The movie is about a 4 year old boy, Colton, that claims he went to heaven while he was in surgery. I am sure you are thinking that 'He was just dreaming' but that's what I was thinking until he said he met his sister that the boy's mother had a miscarriage long before he was born. He also claims that he met his fathers grandfather that died when is father was very young. This sparked a realization that maybe it really is real.

Nothing is ever certain

In the novel The Lovely Bones a girl named Susie was murdered by her neighbor. Her family was devastated when they found out. You don't realize how much you can miss someone until they're gone for good. This made Susie's family, as well as myself, realize how much you should value the important people in your life. You can wake up one day and they will be gone. As they keep repeating throughout the beginning of the story, "Nothing is ever certain"(Sebold, 30). This statement can mean a number of things; something that you think is 100% true could be false or you never know what could happen next.

This is a list of quotes throughout the book on goodreads.com - http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1145090-the-lovely-bones

About the Author - Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold

Sebold was born on September 6, 1963 in Wisconsin. She underwent some childhood struggles. Her mother, Jane, was an alcoholic and suffered anxiety and panic attacks. So the only person their for her was she sister Mary. Sebolds father was a Spanish professor at The University of Pennsylvania.

Since Alice had a difficulf childhood, after high school she wanted to distance herself away from her family. She enrolled at Syrause University in upstate New York. During her first year of college she was walking back to her dorm from class and got pulled into a tunnel and got attacked and raped. Not only did that happen once, but it also happend again not long after it happened the first time in the same tunnel. The police found the attacker and her got sentenced to prison. It was diffcult for Sebold to find closure after those events.

Sebold never was able to gradurate college, Alice moved to New York City and that is when she began to experiment with drugs. She moved to Califorina and that is when she began to write. Sebold used her life experiences in her writing. You can see that in The Lovely Bones.

Jimmy - Fat Boy Chronicles

Jimmy is just your average incoming freshman that happens to carry a little extra weight. This Story is actually biased off a true story about a boy named Doug that went to Mason High School a few years ago. Jimmy gets teased for his weight by his class mates. Jimmy's goal in the beginning of the story is to lose 60 pounds. At first its a struggle with all the TV ads and his constant craving for a Big Mac from McDonald's. Jimmy eventually learns to control his cravings and begins to loose weight like no other. But there is just one problem; the kids at school are still making fun of him and it gets really out of hand.

At the beginning of the year Jimmy doesn't have very many friends. The only friends he has are from his youth group at church. He sits with them at lunch. As the year goes on and high school gets to his only friends the start to not like jimmy anymore. Jimmy's friend Whitney, starts getting into trouble and he thinks she is disgusting now. Now Jimmy is only left with Paul. Paul starts smoking and using drugs because his mom is drinking and his parents are fighting, but that doesn't make Jimmy think less of him.

Throughout the story Jimmy realizes that you should be excellent for yourself and not for anyone else. The kids at school still make fun of him for his weight even though he has lost so much weight from the beginning of the year but now he holds a lot of more confidence then at the beginning of the school year.

 

Fahrenheit 451- Quote Meanings

On page 59 Fahrenheit 451 Captin Beatty says to Montag, "School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling almost completely ignored"(59). The Author is trying to convey that if we don't do something about how they teach now the society could end up the the one in Fahrenheit 451.

On page 58 beatty says, "Classics cut into fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding u at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume. I exaggerate, of course"(58). The Author is trying to explain to the reader that the way we do things now are complelty diffrent then how we do things today and if we continue this what Beatty is telling Montag will become true.