Bastard Out Of Carolina

Anney is adamant that Bone and Reese refrain from stealing, and she is angry one day to discover that Bone has stolen some tootsie roll candies. She explains to Bone how unethical stealing is by telling her a story about the job that she and her sisters had picking strawberries when they were children. Because they were lazy, and it was easier to pick both the ripe and unripe fruit, they’d include unripe strawberries on the bottom of the baskets that they picked even though they knew that they were not supposed to: Customers would complain to the man who owned the fields about the green fruit, and the girls would get in trouble. Their mother then paid the man for the green berries and made the girls eat them all. They were sick all night, and they learned their lesson. Anney marches Bone down to the store and forces her to pay the owner for the tootsie rolls. He tells Bone that she has a good mama to teach her right from wrong, and although Bone is initially ashamed of herself, she finds her shame fading under the man’s judgmental gaze. Although she is banned from the store indefinitely, she decides that she does not care.

Glen’s family is different from the Boatwrights, not only because they live in nicer houses, but also because the women do not work. Glen’s family looks down on Anney and her children and call them “trash.” Bone dislikes going to Glen’s family’s parties, but they accompany him each time his family gathers.

Bone is 10, and the family moves again to West Greenville so that Glen can be nearer to the uniform plant where he has gotten a new job. The house is more expensive, and Glen’s job does not prove to be as lucrative as he had hoped, so Anney has to begin working additional hours at the diner. She wants her children to understand how much Glen loves them, but Bone cannot help but notice how often Glen’s eyes follow her around or how frequently he grabs her with his large hands, and it makes her uncomfortable. One day, Glen beats her with his belt for running in the house, and Bone screams in pain. Anney comes home and interrupts him, but Bone wishes that her mother would go further, would leave him for his mistreatment of her. Bone overhears Glen lying to her mother. He claims that Bone had called him a “bastard,” and told him that he’d never be her real daddy. He cries and admits to Anney that he’d just been laid off and feels hopeless. Anney forgives him and tells Bone to be more respectful.

Glen also increases the amount of unwanted attention he pays Bone, and she cannot help but feel as though his advances are sexual, even if he is not actually having sex with her. She is angry and ashamed, but she does not know how to explain to her mother what it is about Glen’s behavior that is so inappropriate. He also beats her, although only in secret. She daydreams that someone will catch him and punish him for his abuse. His abuse grows worse, and he sets aside several belts that he uses exclusively to beat Bone. Between the beatings and the unwanted touching, Bone grows angry and confused, and as she explores her own sexuality, she begins to have fantasies that include both sex and violence. She is further shamed by these thoughts, and keeps her guilt and pain to herself, not knowing how to explain her feelings to her mother. When Glen’s beatings result in first a broken collar bone and then a broken coccyx, Bone is taken to a doctor who angrily accuses Anney of abuse. Bone, shame-faced and terrified, begs to be taken home. Against Glen’s protestation, Anney brings her daughters to her sister Alma’s. Bone sobs and apologizes, but her mother assures her that she did nothing wrong.

Two weeks later, they return home to Glen. He theatrically apologizes, with many tears and promises of changed behavior, but Bone knows that his guilt will be temporary and that the beatings will resume once he has been forgiven. And this time, Bone is right, as she knew she would be. Her mother forgives Glen, and for a while everything is fine. But as he always does, he begins to remember the beating differently, thinks that perhaps Bone had provoked him, that he was not the guilty party after all. He resumes the beatings in secret, and Bone becomes increasingly withdrawn. She begins working part time at the diner and spends her wages on books. She finds a spot in the woods to retreat to, and spends entire days hidden, reading.

Anney asks Bone to spend time with her ailing aunt Ruth, and Bone reluctantly agrees. Ruth looks frighteningly sick. She and Bone talk, and Bone tries to tell her about Glen, but she is unable to admit the sexual abuse, even when Ruth asks her directly if Glen has ever touched her. Ruth tells her stories about her family, so that she will understand who she is and where she comes from. Bone enjoys the time spent with Ruth and the rest of her family members, but soon her mother returns. Bone overhears Anney and Ruth talking. Anney admits that Glen is a difficult man to live with and that he seems to take his anger out on Bone. Ruth tells Anney that she wouldn’t advise her sister to leave her husband, but that Glen is obviously too hard on Bone, that he is scarred by his own father’s mistreatment and disapproval, and that even though he adores Anney, he is not a stable presence in Bone’s life. Not long after that, a tent revival comes to town, and the music and the preaching fill Bone with guilt and shame. She blames herself for Glen’s abuse.

Still at her aunt Ruth’s, Bone starts to listen to a gospel radio show and becomes enthralled by the music. The whole family joins her, and she enjoys the togetherness that she feels during the radio hour. Shortly before school is to begin, however, her mother tells her that it is time for Bone to move back home with Anney and Glen. In the afternoons, although she is supposed to spend time with Reese and Alma, she goes to a café to listen to the jukebox. She wishes that she were a child star and could dress up and sing country and gospel classics. Her mother and Granny are nonplussed by her interest in religion, although Alma assures them that it is a phase that will pass. Bone begins to try to save the souls of her various family members but is unsuccessful. Then, she turns her attention on herself, and her mother gives in and allows her to get baptized. Bone is happy that Glen hasn’t caught her alone in a while, although she notices that he still looks at her hungrily, and she tries to avoid him.