When I first read the title of the book, A Bastard Out of Carolina, I thought it would be about a disobedient child. As I began reading, I quickly realized that the book was about a women and her two children strugging to make it in life. It seems like nothing can go smooth for Anney Boatwright. When ever she begins to feel a sence of happiness and comfort, something goes wrong. She is an attractive woman who is from a large family who are all very close to one another. She shares close relationships with each family member, and their family is known for drinking and fighting. Her mother chased away the father of her first child called Bone, and I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently for Anney and her two girls if he had been allowed to stay in their lives. It seems like Anneys mother made a wrong choice by not wanting him in their lifes because he messed with her daughter when they weren't married. Thats where the name "bastard" comes from in the title. "Bastard" refers to an illegitimate child. In chapter 1 on page 3 Bone says, "there I was-certified a bastard by the state of South Carolina."
I was happy to see that Anney quickly found happiness with her first husband Lyle. She referred to him as gentle and caring in the book, and they soon had a child together who they named Reese. Everything was going well with her Anney and her two children until the deadly accedent occured. She lost her husband and began crying herself to sleep at night. I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Having someone you love so much taken away from you unexpectadly like that. If that accedient never occured, Anney and her two children would have probably led a happy life, free from all of the abuse which will soon take place with her second husband Glen.
When Anney married her second husband Glen, it seemed that she finally found love again. Things soon began to go horribly wrong for Anney and her two girls. Poverty is a constant problem. I think it was Glen's inability to be successful in life like his brothers, and not having gained the respect of his father that led him to be so frustrated, jealous, and emotionaly disturbed. Glen seems like he is trying to hide his full character behind his love for Anney. He is fully dependent on her and violently possessive of her.
I couldn't believe it when I read chapter 4, Glen actually sexualy abused Bone. I found that part very hard to read because I didn't want to picture that happening. I think the real struggles in Bone's life begin once her mother married Glen. Bone was so young, and all of Glen's frustrations seemed to be taken out on her while her mother turns her head. After the sexual encounter with Glen, sexual fantasies begin to arise. On page 63 Bone said, "Sex. Was that what daddy Glen had been doing to me in the parking lot? Was it what I had started doing to myself whenever I was alone in the afternoons?" I couldn't belive it when she began to describe her sexual fantasy. I have a feeling that when I continue reading this book I'm going to see a lot more abuse given by Glen on Bone. It's so sad that Bone has to be subjected to that.
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I also did not know what to expect when I started reading this book but so far I have really enjoyed it. I have to admire both Bone and her mother, in just a short time (the first few chapters of the book) they have been so much. It was really sad when Lyle died because it briefly looked as though things would be okay for them and then Lyle died and they met Glen and things just get worse from there. One of the things I really like about this book is the importance of family which is a theme we have seen in many of our other readings. The whole family is really close-knit and always involved with each other and helping each other.
Anney reminds me of janie in thier eyes were watching god. They both have such a hard time at finding happiness and holding onto it. it seems like they always get the short end of the stick constantly in all the dealings. in both of the storys there this constant feeling of what if, if it had only gone the other way things would have been better. It makes it sad, and dissapointing when authors make it impossible for thier characters to never lead a fulfilling life i think. Also, both of them choose men that are abusive, angry, and overall awful human beings. they can do nothing about it either, because they are in situations where they desperatley need them, and so this is dissapointing.
i find that the beginning of this book is very strong and shows how life can go from being the best that it can be to being the worst. and to make it even more destivatingly alarming would ahve to be the fact that bone is abused by her step father and that she is too young to understand it at all.
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