After completing this book, I felt saddened by the life Bones had. Since she was young, she has been physically, verbally, and sexually abused by Glen. Glen took all of his frustrations out on Bones, and I couldn't imagine living my life like she had to. I wish she would have had the courage to tell her mother the first time it happened, then maybe she could have lived a better life. But she didn't say anything to anyone about the abuse because she was scare and blamed herself for what Glen was doing to her. I think that Glen abused Bones because he was verbally and psychologically abused by his father. His father would constantly talk about his failures, and I believe that this is where all of Glens problems began. On page 99 there is an example of what Glen's father thought of him, "his father had delivered his lecture on all things Glen had done wrong in his life of failure and disappointment." I feel that Bones mother, blinded by her love for Glen, ignores the signs of abuse.
As Bones gets older, and the abuse gets more frequent and intense, she begins to show signs of an abused child. Sexual fantasies, masturbating to visions of abuse, and the horrible stories she tells are all signs of something seriously wrong. On page 112 Bones said, "my fantasies got more violent and more complicated as daddy Glen continued to beat me with the same two or three belts he'd set aside for me." Bones will probably be scarred by her mistreatment for the rest of her life.
I found the ending to be very disturbing. Glen showed up at the house to talk to Bones about getting back with her mother, and when Bones tells him what she really thinks about him she gets severely beaten and raped. I thought glen was a disgusting character, and I was glad when Anney caught him in the act of sexually abusing and beating Bones because maybe now she will wake up and truly see Glen for what he is. Then Bones can finally be free of his abuse. After Anney put Bones in the car to bring her to the hospital, I couldn't believe that she began to comfort Glen after he hurt himself by banging his own head on the door. On page 291 I read, "She was holding him, his head pressed to her belly." This is a perfect example of how blinded Anney was by her love for Glen. If I were in her shoes, I could care less about Glen hurting himself, all I would care about was bringing my daughter to the hospital to get medical care and having him arrested. I think Anney should have never went back to Glen after she first caught him abusing Bones. Then maybe Bones would have lived a better childhood. The one thing that really bothered me about this book was that Anney ignored all of the signs of abuse that Bones had.
4 comments:
I think that Bone didn't tell Anney what had happened with Glen at first because she didn't understand and I don't think even at the end she really understood what or why Glen had been doing to her. And no one was going to talk to her about anything that happened or helped her, they just told her to forget about it and ignored it. I do agree that Glen treats Bone the way he does because of the way he was treated growing up. He has a seriously twisted definition of love. Growing up and even know he constantly has to fight for his father's love and attention with his brothers. He sees Bone as competition for Anney's love and attention. Bone is someone he can control where his family he can not.
The end of the book is beyond scary. The hole thing with Anney is that she in her own way was being abused by Glen. He brainwashed her. He told her whatever lies he could that made him look like he was doing good by Bone. She finally made the choice and unfortunatly for Bone her choice was Glen. That was the moment I look all compassion for Anney. When she went with Glen over her own daughter, but I think that Bone knew this would happen. She was surprised, but it seemed more disappointment then surprise. I wonder if she took Reese when she left with Glen there is no mention, but how stupid can she be if she did take Reese.
I think you make a lot of great points, one of which is that Glen’s father’s mistreatment of him probably contributed to Glen abusing Bone. You also mentioned that Anney just ignored the warning signs that Glen and Bone were exhibiting of the abuse because she loved Glen. This is a very common occurrence in relationships, and people also often have the misconception that if they love someone enough they can stop them from being abusive. Anney says at one point early on that Glen just needs to see that Anney and the girls love him, but she is wrong. Glen is clearly disturbed and in need of professional help. He needs to separate his identity from the low expectations his father has for him so that he is not constantly in need of being in control and proving his masculinity. Maybe then he wouldn’t beat and sexually assault Bone.
I really think that Anney will regret leaving Bone for Glen because Bone was never the problem in their relationship. The problem was that Glen is insecure and easily made jealous of anyone who receives Anney’s attention. If Anney took Reese, he will probably soon become jealous of her, and he also will probably become jealous of coworkers of Anney’s or friends that Anney will make. His abuse will not stop, as he never could stop abusing Bone, and with time he may start abusing Anney for making him question her devotion to him. Anney is now trapped, away from her family, with a very dangerous man.
The ending made me so mad also! you get so happy when finally Anney saves Bone and stops Glen and is yelling at him. It all seems to be over, Anney is going to take Bone away and never go back to Glen. But when he beats his head on the car and she cradles him while bone is in the front seet bleading to death, just been raped! It discusted me, and angered me. How could someone do such a thing? I would have rather read that she ran him over with her car.
Even still, I decided to give her one more chance because that kind of situation has to be hard. so, then with this she did the absolute wrong thing possible. She abandoned Bone in a time where she needed her more than ever. And even Bone new that she ran away with Glen to florida or California. thats just discusting i think.
one thing i dont understand is what is the significance of giving Bone her birth certificate back... is it Anney revoking her as a chile? i just dont know.
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