Saturday, February 13, 2016
Katrina As Motherhood
I know that motherhood is a major theme in "Salvage the Bones", and I was thinking how Hurricane Katrina was what caused Esch to have a major revelation. Hurricane Katrina is obviously an outcome of mother nature (coincidentally motherhood being another prominent theme of the book), and we see how mother nature nurtures life on earth, but on the other hand can completely destroy everything in sight. So it's a metaphor for an angry mother murdering all of her own children, even though Esch's family, with the exception of China, make it out alive. In the end we see how Esch no longer associates herself with Medea and begins to come to terms with motherhood. The final page (259), e see how the circle of motherhood is complete, and Esch's sweet quote to China.
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This is an interesting way of depicting Katrina. In my opinion,Hurricane Katrina is symbolized as a divine force that reveals the emotional bonds that Esch and her family have for each other. In the second half of the book, Salvage the Bones, Esch and her brothers had to prepare for the hurricane that is as strong as hurricane Elaine which they have heard stories from their mother and father. Due to their father’s injury, the preparations that they have made prior to the assault of the storm proved to be ineffective in protecting themselves. The anxiety and fear that the Batiste family endured during the storm produced emotional love towards each other as survival was the only thought on their minds. The confusion and arguments among the family only ended when they spoke truthfully of they ideals when figuring out the best solution to the daunting storm. The actions that each character took while in the storm showed a great development in character as we can see the true nature of the individual. For instance, the father because more passive and responsive towards his children after he lost some fingers. During the storm, he took all the photos he had of his wife and children and hoped to keep everyone alive. This is a indication that although he was not able to physically express his love towards his children after all these years, he still wants to be able to give his, perhaps, last moments for his children as a caring father. The storm’s cleansing power is to break away the mold that every human uses to hide there secrets and to reveal them to the rest of the people.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hurricane Katrina parallels Medea's murdering of her children, but I think strength is what those to things in common. Hurricane Katrina is incredibly strong and devastates the Batiste's family's home not because it "wants to." The hurricane is just that strong. On the other hand Medea, shows her strength in making Jason unhappy by murdering his children and bride. She sacrifices her children to destroy Jason which in my opinion is a very powerful display.
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