Background

“Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward is the story of a rural family preparing for Hurricane Katrina. That family consists of pregnant 14-year old girl (no one knows at the time), her brothers, and her sometimes present (and usually unemployed) father. Her mother has died in childbirth, leaving Eesch as the only girl in a world of dog fights, boys, and abject poverty.

Then again, “Salvage the Bones” is not your typical “teen pregnancy” story.

 “Salvage the Bones” is a story about a boy with a strong relationship with his dog, China, and their journey through puppies, dog fights, parvo, and love. China is a legend and Skeeter will do everything he can to make sure China and her puppies live up it, no matter what it takes.

Then again, “Salvage the Bones” is not your typical “boy and pet” story either.

Evaluation

I was referred to the book in a Twitter conversation with Cameron Conaway, a social justice advocate, poet,author, and mixed martial artist.

“Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward was not what I expected given the title and the preview. I expected a heartfelt story about a rural family preparing to survive through Hurricane Katrina. What I read was one of the most emotionally gut-wrenching and detailed books I have ever read on rural poverty. Jesmyn Ward is a master at being able to provide tiny details about some minor thing in the character’s life and turn it into a poetic expression of the human expression. That expression is a tragic and brutal one, filled with dog fights, parental neglect, teen pregnancy, and cursing. It’s the kind of life you read about in the news covering a rural family living in poverty. Jesmyn enters that without apology and without being patronizing. This is simply the world Eesch and her family live in and they accept it for what is.

Jesmyn Ward also does an incredible job of displaying the fickle thoughts and emotions of a teenager in Eesch and Skeeter. Reading their dialogue (internal or external), readers get a chance to see their condition from the inside out. For example, Jesmyn is able to capture the cornucopia of feelings Eesch feels about her mother, her upcoming pregnancy, her relationship with boys, and her relationship with China. All of this comes out in all of its poetic and graphic detail like they do in real life.

Maintaining two simultaneous plots is strength of the book as well. Jesmyn is able to balance the story of Eesch’s conflicts about the nature of her upcoming motherhood with Skeeter’s journey with his dog. Both plots happen at the same time and both plots impact each other. 

“Salvage the Bones” is a great book, however, there are some things that might (and have) turned readers away from it. The first is the over-emphasis on emotion and tragedy. Although I liked this aspect of the book, the plot suffered a little because it was too focused on detail and emotion. That is most evident in the ending, which stopped rather than ended. After becoming so emotionally invested in the characters, the book didn't really end on a strong note. I wanted to know what would happen next. The second issue is the content itself. If you are not ready to confront the graphic reality of rural poverty and other aspects of our culture (like dogfights, teen pregnancy, etc.) then you probably are not ready for this book.

I was actually glad to hear that it was going to be made available.  There are still too many unwanted/teen pregnancies in this country.  Even with a drastic decline in teen pregnancies in the U.S. over the last 10-15 years, we still lead the developed world in teen pregnancies.

Unfortunately, there are many girls who are too afraid to tell their mothers or grandmothers that they are pregnant for fear of physical abuse, and in some cases, being kicked out of the family home. And while abortion is legal, financially it can be out of reach for many teens. 

Opponents to Plan B say that teenage girls should abide by Plan A – or abstinence. While that sounds like the higher path we want our girls to follow, the hideous and tragic events of Steubenville, from recent history, come to mind. I don’t want to debate the details of that incident, but what a tragedy that would be if the young lady involved had become pregnant.

Then there’s the other side – the proponents of Plan C, also known as, go ahead and have the baby.  These are decisions that should not be made without complete consideration, but watch 16 and Pregnant on MTV and you hear many girls wonder what they were thinking when they got pregnant – the weighty decision of becoming mothers, dealing with rebellious, too young fathers and the complete stopping of their own lives.

As a Global Community, we have to be realistic about what young people know about sex and what teens, in particular, are doing when it comes to sex.  While we have made much progress in our country with lowering teen pregnancy rates, we obviously have a ways to go. Not making Plan B available is not going to stop teen sex and/or pregnancy. However, it may be an alternative for some who are caught up in bad situations all the way around.

Young people need to know that they have options.  We give them options for everything from cell phones to the high schools they attend, but somehow think they are never having sex or shouldn't have choices about sex. Plan B is really emergency contraception and should not take the place of sex education and long-term birth control.

Plan B can be an option for young girls and women who are in family or living situations that are non-supportive and non-communicative when it comes to sex. When it comes to teaching our youth about sex, every family is not as savvy about educating their teens about sex as they are with cell phones. Plan B, while not optimal, can be a better choice than having an unwanted pregnancy.

Keep the conversation going!! bb