Blog 2: Salvage the Bones-Love

Sounding very cliche, Ward is trying to tell us love has many strengths and weaknesses. The various relationships depicted in the story between Skeet and China, China and her pups, the family, and Manny and Esch all have varying degrees of love. The love Skeet feels for China is supportive in the mid-wife sense, and caring that it allows her to grow and survive as she was one of the first dogs that lived longer than a week. It also could be seen that his love is fueled by greed, after all his intention so far is to sell the puppies. The love between China and the pups is a traditional motherly nurturing response you would expect from a new mother. Esch even comments that China would normally be rough, but towards her pups she is kind and cleans them. The familial love is a little more tough, there is a sense of underlying love between the characters but not truly affectionate outcries of it. There is a sense of connection between Skeet and Esch on a deeper level but only grazed. Skeet does watch out for her and even cares for her when she vomits, the same way he does for China as she giving birth. Now the relationship between Esch and Manny is two-sided, in that Manny physically "loves" her but not on an emotional level; it's only a lust. Whereas Esch thinks of it like a mystical, mythological greek level just as the gods lust after each other, but she also knows it's not love in the traditional sense that she wants it to be of affection. Love in their relationship is a weakness; it's not genuine and heartfelt as say Skeet and China. While all the relationships have “love," it can be portraying very differently.