10 Key Episodes Within The Lovely Bones

1# Susie Dying The first key episode that stands out to me is the very first chapter in the book, it gives the reader an incredibly graphic and shocking detail of her rape and murder. Which helps to start the chain of events in the book. Not just does Susie's death help start the chain of events in the book , but we also learn the type of themes that will appear in the book. Straight away we see this Good vs. Evil appear where George Harvey is the evil, but Susie and her family teach the reader that they must not fall into that blackness and never surface again. Susie represents the goodness that comes out to surround her family and protect them.

2# Ruth and Susie's Connection A key episode is when Susie is able to connect with Ruth. Susie thinks it strange but fitting that two girls who are outsiders should come together from their places in life and death. The initial meeting between the two girls is on page 36-37 when Susie reached “out to touch her, touch the last face, feel the last connection to Earth in this not-so-standard-issue teenage girl’” I feel it is an important part because it sets up the major out-of-body experience that will occur later in the novel when Susie's spirit completely takes over Ruth's body to have her first kiss with Ray.

3# Lindsey Puts Makeup on The third part in The Lovely Bones, that sticks out to me is when Lindsey asks Granma Lynn “Could you teach me about makeup?”. I feel this is important because we now see that Lindsey is growing up, she is stepping out of Susie's shadow and finding her own identity. “The face that reminded people of me” was now gone. However you could say that the makeup is a defence mechanism, and that the makeup hides her real self. As she finds a way to escape the grief of her sister passing away.

#4 Ruth and Susie's Connection Again There is still a connection between Ruth and Susie. Even though they are on different planes of existence, they exist very much in the same way. Neither of them feels a part of her world. Both obsess over what the other can tell her. They both hope the other can hear. Franny’s advice to Susie about how to find the heaven where she really belongs indicates that Susie, like Ruth, has no idea how to move on. She clings to life and won’t face her death. She even tries at one point to step beyond the boundaries of heaven and ends up with a horrible headache, a sign that she no longer belongs on Earth. Susie hasn’t yet figured this out.

5# The Flashlight in The Cornfield On page 136, Jack see's a flashlight in the cornfield, thinking it may be Harvey returning to destroy evidence he goes out ready to attack him. However under this misconception, he ends up attacking Brian, who strikes him with a bat. This results in ‘Jack’s knee surgery, which pulls him away from Buckley as its harder to play with him now. Also Abigail's affair with Fenerman first starts at the hospital and so Jacks incident in the Cornfield starts the eventual desertion of Abigail from the family. Which puts massive strain on the rest of the members of the family.

6# George Harvey's Past In chapter 15 we get a unique insight into George Harvey’s past, which helps the reader to understand why he commits these murders. It is obvious from George Harvey’s childhood memories that his mother impacted on who he became in a very strong way, he fears being caught for his sins, because of the shoplifting incidence, and he probably kills women and children to save them from he believes are terrible lives. Women and children were the two worst things to be. He has spent his entire life trying to earn his mother’s love which he only feels when he shoplifts for her. This seems to transfer to the murders he commits, because he wants his victims to tell him they love him and then, he kills them to set them free. Also the Eye charm his mother gives to him after they stole it from a roadside memorial. May symbolize how he’s always watching for his next victims.

#7 Lindsey in the future At chapter seventeen the books jumps forward a number of years. I feel as though this is an important part of the book because we now see how the relationship with Samuel and Lindsey, and how serious it has become. Since we saw them last as teenage lovers. Also its interesting to see how they’ve moved on from Susie. I feel this thought is summed up well on age 236 when Susie says “It was no longer a Susie-fest on earth”.

8# Abigail's Return Abigail’s return home I feel is another major part in the book. Her immediate reaction to fly back to Philadelphia and Jack is a sign of the need in her heart that she has never lost. She is ready to put the past behind her as seen when she leaves Susie’s picture by the tree trunk. It is interesting to see how changes in the family on her return and the furious anger of her son. There is a cord mentioned again when Lindsey and her mother face together the lie her mother had told about Len and about leaving. That tie may be a bridge for them, but she will have to work to regain her children’s love and trust. The ship with the broken planks and boards in Jack’s mind are the lies and the abandonment she had committed.

9# Harvey and Fenerman In between the reconnection of the Salmon family, we see George Harvey lying in an empty grave, apprehensive and feeling threatened by the memory of Lindsey’s #5. He is a pathetic character, who sought love through the young girls and women he killed, but instead finally comes to an empty grave, a grave as empty as his life. Len Fenerman is depicted here as lonely man who in a way lives in an empty grave, too. All the women and young girls who obsessed George Harvey now obsess him. He counts them, like George counted the bones, and he lives an empty life, thinking only of those who died and those who might. In this way, he is like Susie and Ruth. He is also like the leaking barrels of toxic fluid. He is to be pitied and respected at the same time.

#10 Ruth's body taken over by Susie This scene is the most wondrous , and of course, in some ways , unbelievable part of the book. Susie inhabits the body of Ruth Connors and subsequently uses Ruth's body to have sex with Ray Singh. Doomed to never grow up, suddenly, through the grace of Heaven, receiving her greatest desire. Mr. Harvey, “unloved and unbidden,” drives away and with that, evil finally leaves and love flows in. Also, now Susie can capitalize both Heaven and Earth