Kelso High School

English Department

Chapter One

In today’s lesson we will:

Analyse chapter one of the text in relation to:

plot

characterisation

setting

narrative style

tone

imagery

foreshadowing

structure

symbolism

Plot

Discuss briefly with your partner the main events of chapter one.

Check that your chapter summary notes include all relevant information.

How do you feel at the end of chapter one towards: Susie and Mr Harvey?

Characterisation: Susie

Susie Salmon - shortened name establishes notion of familiarity between reader and Susie.

It also creates intimacy. It is endearing and cute - perhaps associated more with a child than an adult. This highlights her age and the fact that because of her murder Susie will now never grow up.

This creates sympathy on the part of the reader.

Susie -the Protagonist

The protagonist of a story is the main character who traditionally undergoes some sort of change.

Susie is the protagonist of The Lovely Bones. She presents her story as the narrator and observer of how life changes in a family where a murder takes place.

She gives us a deep understanding of each member of her family and how they endure the grieving process. She is forever a 14 year-old girl and so, even though she can analyse what happens to those she loves, she has a difficult time accepting her own death and moving on to her “wide, wide Heaven.”

Susie

She is the main character and narrator of the novel, the young girl who has been raped and murdered.

She tells us everything she sees happen to her family for eight years after her death.

Mr Harvey

George Harvey is the man who murdered Susie.

As the novel progresses the reader sees through Susie’s eyes all the events in his life, including the murders he committed and the childhood that moulded him into a murderer.

Mr Harvey

Susie refers to him as “Mr. Harvey” - this is ironic as he does not deserve either the title or the respect.

The use of “Mr Harvey” also creates a distance between himself and Susie - this reinforces his ostracism.

His name is simple which contrasts to his complicated life.

His name is generic which suggests that anyone could be a murderer. He camouflages himself in the disguise of a generic name.

Setting - 1973

1973 is still at a time when people believed things like raping and murdering a young girl didn’t happen.

Although Susie is 14, girls her age, in 1973, were probably more like 11 year old girls are today. They were not nearly as mature as they are now. The setting therefore also emphasises Susie’s innocence.

Setting - Surburban Pennsylvania

This is the main setting of the novel.

The suburbs are an area where people know each other’s business and secrets.

Setting - the Cornfield

Setting - the Cornfield

The neighbourhood where Susie and her family live is near a cornfield known as the Stolfuz Cornfield.

Susie is walking through the cornfield when George Harvey lures her to his workshop.

A cornfield is a large, endless setting where something can be lost.

List the different things that were lost when Susie was murdered.

Setting - Heaven

The novel is set in heaven, but this is not the traditional heaven we associate with Christian scriptures. Heaven is presented by Sebold's powerful imagination as an extension of each

individual's desire and imagination.

For Susie, heaven is filled with everything one expects of an adolescent girl including media magazines, a gazebo, a sympathetic roommate

and lots of canine companions.

Setting - Heaven

From the safety of her new environment, Susie observes the lives of her family, friends and even the life of her killer.

Being dead she can also reflect on important events from the lives of the people she observes.

Narrative Style First person:

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was still back when people believed things like that didn’t happen.”

Narrative Style - why effective?

The use of first person narrative means that there is an intimate relationship formed immediately between Susie and the reader.

This is evident from the very first sentence and the reader is instantly consumed by Susie’s tragedy.

First person - why effective?

The first person style differs from the usual first person autobiographical technique. Susie is in heaven and is therefore omniscient or ‘all seeing, all knowing’.

Sebold utilises an omniscient narrator to not only trace the thought processes of the grieving family members but also those of the perpetrator, George Harvey.

First person - why effective?

However, having Susie as the omniscient narrator has many advantages as well as being the novel’s unique selling point.

Susie adds another dimension to the story of growing up, grieving, coming to terms with loss because she is uniquely placed to enable us to see the process from many points of view - to truly give us a bird’s eye view as well.

First person - why effective?

The second sentence is typical first person autobiographical but with a dramatic twist. “I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”

Sebold adds another factor which can make a first person method more engaging: Susie TALKS to the reader sometimes. “I wasn’t killed by Mr Botte, by the way. Don’t think every person you’re going to meet is suspect.”

First person - why effective?

The first chapter shows another advantage of Susie as a narrator. She can narrate the way people talk and tell stories or write in a diary. She goes backwards and forwards in time.

In the middle of her account of the rape, for example, she tells how Mr. Harvey addresses her by her name and she is surprised by this. She then relates how her father used to tell people anecdotes about his daughters and that Harvey may have been told one of these. She then moves forward in time to after the murder when Harvey pretended to her mother that he did not know Susie’s name.

Tone

Unsentimental tone

Chilling / matter of fact description - Sebold’s narrative is void of feeling and sentiment - as if she does this so we the readers fill it with our own emotive reactions - empathy.

Imagery

The strong and graphic imagery used evokes a strong emotional reaction from the reader - uses strong imagery to reinforce relationship between

Susie and reader because we feel deep sympathy for what has happened to Susie.

“fitting my limbs together”

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing means a clue which suggests that something will happen later in the novel.

For example, when Susie is walking home and meets up with Mr. Harvey, several factors present themselves as warnings she never heeds: his cologne fills the air even before she sees him, he knows her name, but she really doesn’t know him; why would a grown man have a hiding place? Then, when he tells her he had built it for the neighborhood kids, she knows he is lying, but just feels sorry for him for his loneliness.

Foreshadowing

Finally, Susie is amazed that he has lantern inside the hiding place as well as his razor and his shaving cream. She just attributes this to his oddness - her father had once told his family that Mr. Harvey was harmless, just a “character” - and doesn’t hear any warning bells. Now, we know that he was preparing himself for her murder.

Structure - flashback

a technique that acts as a vehicle in allowing us to understand characters better and feel sympathy for them.

Flashbacks are scattered right through the novel are flashbacks are used in different ways:

Structure - flashback

To create sympathy for Susie in the way that happy, normal childhood memories are juxtaposed with her cruel reality - first kiss p13

Everything that is a precious memory of Susie is ruined by Mr. Harvey.

The stylistic device of flashback is also used to further our hatred for Mr. Harvey and later our sympathy for Mr. Harvey.

Use of flashback creates contrast - present sadness of her life with youthful happiness of her stolen past.

Use of flashback allows us to understand characters - contrast them before and after Susie’s death.

Symbolism

Symbolism is used when a writer uses an event, item or a character to stand for something else.

Symbols can be characters, such as a character symbolising good or evil.

Objects can also be symbols. People can be symbols, such as Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.”

Symbolism

Sebold’s use of rain and snow is a traditional literary device called pathetic fallacy when the description of the weather matches the emotion portrayed within the text.

The novel opens in the coldness of winter and it is snowing. Why is there a cold atmosphere in chapter one?

The snow covers the evidence of Susie’s murder. Similarly the emotions of grief are weighed down and buried after the murder.

The rather gloomy weather sets the mood of the novel. Only rarely is there a description of sun and beauty.

Study questions for Chapter One: 1. A number of details in this chapter highlight that Susie is a child. Pinpoint some of these and discuss your findings with your neighbour.

2. The opening chapters to novels are often used to intrigue us and make us want to know more. What questions are raised in this chapter?

3. The rape Susie endures is horrific, but it is told in a very matter-of-fact, almost distant way. Identify any quotations which show

a. Susie is reflecting on what has happened

b. The pain and distress she felt at the time

4. Make some notes on Susie’s family and relationships.

Important Quotations:

“Nothing is ever certain” (p.21)

This mantra helped the family keep their sanity while they continued to hope Susie would come home.

“He wore his innocence like a comfortable old coat” (p. 26)

This describes Mr. Harvey, the serial killer, who has killed and got away with it so often that he almost believes his own innocence.

The End!