winter's bone essay, draft

Im having a lot of trouble with this essay, At first i thought i would compare the authors life with his work, however that seems to be harder than it actually seemed. so i think im going to analyze the themes inside the text. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Life in the Ozarks in the mid twenty first century

            In Daniel Woodrell’s “Winter’s Bone”, we get a very good look into the life in the Ozarks during the mid twenty first century. In this novel, Woodrell paints a picture of a 16 year girl, Ree, whose father has put their home and land up for collateral for a bail bond after he gets busted cooking meth. We see Ree struggle through an Ozark winter trying to find her father and bring him to justice so as not to lose their home. She struggles with her mother who is an elderly dementia patient, her two brothers and her many uncles and aunts. All throughout the book, Ree stands up to her family which encompasses the entire valley in which they live. She learns many things about her father that should be unknown, and about herself.  This novel, simply stated, shows the methamphetamine addicted, poor, inbred current state of the Ozarks.

            Woodrell’s view of the Ozarks, having grown up there, are clearly evident throughout the novel. He brings his years of experience of the cold winters, hard times, and excellent understanding of the methamphetamine usage. Methamphetamine usage in the Ozarks has unfortunately overrun the place. Since that is one of the major themes in the book, it leads me to believe that he has first-hand knowledge of it. Another major theme of the novel is simply family. This whole area of the town that they live in is family, has been famly for hundreds of years. There are many passages in the text that Ree uses the excuse of “you’re family, you should help me.” And unfortunately in this passage, that expatiation of family helping family falls through, “So, come the nut-cuttin’, blood don’t truly mean shit to him. Am I understandin’ right? Blood don’t truly count for diddly to the big man?” (Winter’s 1). This quote depicts that, to Ree, family truly means everything, which in her search for her father, is all she has to rely on. This theme has also been brought out to Woodrell’s attention, and he states that family is a huge support system within the Ozarks, “…The Ozarks, and many of the values of the place, are anchored deep within, I’m afraid. Values like: it’s better to be poor than be beholdin’…”(Woodrell 1) This simple statement shows that Woodrell has had much expierence in the Ozarks with his family, and has seen it firsthand. It is clearly evident in the way that he writes almost every character in his novel to have a large since of family.

            Methamphetamine usage has become a major problem in the Ozarks in the last few decades, “Production and use are still high in the Ozarks, and Jasper county in southwest Missouri led the state with 178 meth raids and seizures last year” (Meth 1). In this report, the Nevada daily mail reports that methamphetamine is spreading throughout the Ozarks and Missouri state as a whole. In the novel, Woodrell writes about the meth usage from a standpoint of one of the many innocent lives wrapped up in the drug and its detrimental effects. Uncle teardrop put it the best that many affected by meth, neither sleep nor eat for days on end. “Those pills of mine Victoria gave you was what used to knock me off the mountaintop to sleep whenever I’ve been too far high too long like this.” (Winter’s 2) This simply states that many in the Ozarks, Uncle Teardrop included, were almost always skewed by the cloudiness of meth.

            Another major theme in the book is poverty. Traditionally drug usage strikes the poor the hardest. Throughout the book, Woodrell emphasizes the poverty stricken side of the Ozarks. Most of the time, the family has to scrounge what little food they have left in the house to eat a meal at night time. Sometimes however, her family makes good and brings over some food and wood to cook on, “Sonya carried a large cardboard box that had venison on a long bone jutting above the rim.” (Winter’s 17) “You poor thing. Ill have Betsy’s Milton haul across a rick of wood for you-all.”(Winter’s 18) This statement shows how the since of family and camaraderie help eachother in the Ozarks. Since they live in such an isolated and remote rural area, many people in the region rely on family to provide them with food and such. Especially in the Dolly’s family case, since it is simply a 16 year old girl trying to provide for the entire family. This statement rings true for many familys in the Ozarks. With all of the drug use, and legal run-ins around the area, many homes have simply turned for the worse.

            Another major theme is the lack of education. Ree dropped out of high school around the age of 15. She did this mostly because her mother had gone crazy, and her father, which not much is mentioned about him other than the fact that he is a degenerate low life, has left the home, or been in jail most of her life. Leaving her to care for the family. This is best illustrated that the young girl leaves school when she begs for a ride from her old bus driver. Her driver, Mr. Egan, tells her that he misses her and her smart ways form when she used to ride the year before. The simple way that the author writes the characters words lends credibility to the lack of education in the area. Many of the words are broken and slang, which many educated areas don’t use.