Bone reminds me of Miranda from the porter stories. This is manly because of the gender roles that are constantly being challenged in this book by her. She tries to dress like her older male cousins, and carry a knife like they do. She looks up to these men that have a reputation for being aggressive and dangerous. Gender roles are definitely a popular topic in southern literature that seems to be explored in any way possible.
I don’t trust Glen. I think this is due to the point that the book keeps describing him as the “quiet sort who never fought in friendly style. He either gave you that slow grin or went all out and tried to kill you. The latter earned him a little respect.” He never spoke his mind until he later blew up in anger and for this, was once arrested. This doesn’t seem like the kind of personality that I would want around my children and this why I get the feeling that something bad is going to happen to Bone, also manly because of this line in the book: “That boy’s got something wrong with him. He’s always looking at me out of the sides of his eyes like some old junkyard dog waiting to steal a bone.” Even though the reference was to a dog bone, I still feel in some way that this is supposed to be foreshadowing, or referencing some future event in which he will go after Bone.
5 comments:
I also didn't trust Glen when I started reading about him. It didn't sound like he was going to be a positive influence on Anney and her two children, and as I continued to read I saw the ugly person that he is. Glen seems like a very disturbed person. I think he's like that because he's not successful like his two brothers, and he hasn't yet gained the respect of his father. I think he tries to hide behind his love for Anney and is very possessive of her, and takes his anger out on Bone.
I feel the same way about Glen. He is a weird character. I am almost done with the book and know what he does. Your feelings for Glen will probably get stronger and stronger as the book goes on.
I see what you mean about gender roles. Bone is much more boy like throughout this story. She is trying to find her identity all through the story. Which I think is interesting because you are not normally that aware of yourself until your a teenager, but Bone is aware of it when she's 5 or 6. She mental old for her age and very wise.
I agree that Glen is not to be trusted. The quote that you wrote was very symbolic and a great description of his character. He just seems to be typical “white trash”, frequently losing his jobs, having an evil temper and even worse what begins to happen with Bone when her mother is in the hospital. He seems to be the typical child molester and I had a good feeling something like this was going to happen from the beginning. I knew immediately when Aunt Alma called him crazy this he was going to cause major issues with Bone, her immediate family and the entire Boatwright family as a whole. Glen makes things extremely confusing for Bone. He describes how great their family is going to be and how much love they will have between them. The scene in the car is very disturbing and shows how manipulative this man is. He messes with Bones mind and makes her feel as if maybe what he was doing was alright. I’m sure something will happen that will take Glen out of the picture, and I hope that it happens sooner than later.
I have to agree with the rest. I don't trust Glen either. He seemed very possessive over Anney and her girls. He kept saying that they were "his", like they were property or a pet. It kind of disturbed me that although Anney didn't associate with Bone's father, she was married and in love with Reese's father, and he tragically died. It seems to me that Anney would have wanted Reese to remember her father and keep his memory alive. But I think Anney got swept up in love with Glen and didn't realize it.
Someone once told me that if you really wanted to know and trust someone new, them you should bring him/her around your grandparents or young child. Both seem to have intuition about a person and can usually sense when something is not right. This goes along with the story. Both the grandmother and Bone don't trust Glen. I think their suspicions are going to be correct in the end.
i find that i have to agree with you about glen. i don't trust him and i think that the fact that he is with the mother is because they love each other. it makes me sick to already know what happens to bone later in novel and to know that it was by the man who was supposed to be her stepfather.
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