In the beginning of Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell the main character, Ree Dolly, is openly discontented with her life. She is so unhappy that she often listens to music because she “needed often to inject herself with pleasant sounds, stab those sounds past the constant screeching, squalling hubbub regular life raised inside her spirit” (Woodrell 10). She longs to leave the Ozarks, where she lives, for another life. When talking with her Aunt Victoria the reader’s learn that she plans to join the army “Next Birthday” (Woodrell). Not only does she dislike her life and want to leave, she’s also actively working a means to do so. Following this discussion Ree sets herself up for her departure in many ways. Most notably, she spends a lot of time teaching her younger brothers how to hunt, take care of their mother, cook, and more. This way, once she leaves, her younger siblings will be prepared to fend for themselves.
Even after all of this talk of wanting to leave and planning on her departure, by the end of the novel Ree has seemed to abandon the idea of joining the army. When asked about her leaving by her brothers, she responds with, “I ain’t leavin’ you boys” (Woodrell 193). Something over the course of the book changed her mind about her slot in life. She claims, to her brothers, that they’re the reason she stays, stating, “Naw. I’d get lost without the weight of you two on my back” (Woodrell 193). However, this is most definitely not the reason as to why she decided to remain. She already knew that leaving for the army would mean abandoning her brothers and this fact didn’t seem to affect her previously. Beyond that, she was actively preparing them for her departure. My theory is that it has less to do with her immediate family and more to do with her extended family.
The Dolly family works as a network that “protects its own at any cost” (Back Cover Woodrell). Even with a dead father, a mentally broken mother, and herself gone to war, Ree knew that her siblings would have the family to depend on. However, over the course of the novel, Ree discovers that her father had betrayed the family by snitching on them to the law. This is an unforgivable offense and one that is responsible for his murder. Along with getting himself killed, his actions also exiled Ree and her brothers from the rest of the family. The one person of which Ree could depend on, Teardrop, had recently discovered who was responsible for Ree’s father’s death. He states, “Jessup. I know who” (192 Woodrell). Earlier in the novel Teardrop stated that if he found out who killed Jessup, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from killing them. This murder would result in the family turning on him as well and killing him. Ree knows that soon enough, Teardrop will most likely be dead and unable to protect her brothers. All of these factors together changed Ree’s decision to leave for the army, for she could prepare her brothers day and night but their survival would be impossible without at least someone to depend on.
I agree that throughout the novel, Ree was unhappy with her life, and her intent to leave had diminished by the end of the novel. Towards the beginning, Ree is preparing her brothers to survive and care for their mother without her. As you said, she teaches them to hunt and cook, as well as how to wash their mother’s hair and perform other basic household tasks. Despite the fact that she still has to help them with many things, such as getting to school on time, she seems to have accepted leaving her brothers and mother behind in the Ozarks in order to join the army.
ReplyDeleteI found your theory of the real reason Ree decided to stay to be very fascinating and well thought-out. Although it seemed a bit odd to me that Ree transitioned from ready to leave her family to stating that they are the reason she must stay, I had never considered that there could be another, deeper reason. Teardrop is seemingly the only relative who cares even a little bit about Ree and her family. If he were to die and Ree was to join the army, Harold, Sonny, and their mother would be left in an extremely vulnerable position. It is likely that someone would take the boys and raise them to sell or produce drugs, and that their mother would be left to suffer alone. It makes sense that Ree would think of all this and decide to remain in the Ozarks.