Salvage the Bones

“At her opening, I see a purplish, red bulb. China is blooming” 

This image of China giving birth to puppies is a reflection of the fruitful side of nature, and compares birth to a flower blooming.

“’She can hold her own. Told you she was going to be a little scrappy scrawny thing—built just like you’”

Although there are times in the novel where Claude speaks poorly about women, Esch takes this description of herself (and the comparison to her mother) as a compliment. It also speaks to the strength and survival instinct of the book’s narrator.

“[The dog] had chunks of skin and flesh crusted over to scabby sores from fighting. When he and China had sex, there was blood on their jaws, on her coat, and instead of loving, it looked like they were fighting” 

This description of China mating serves to illustrate the narrator’s views on the ugly, messy and violent side of nature and sex. Survival means fighting, and China’s puppies were seen as a means of survival for the Batiste family, as they would bring in a promising amount of money for the poor family.

“Manny is always the loudest of them all: his teeth white knives, his face golden red”

Although this description of Manny by Esch is early on in the novel, when she is still in love with him, the negative imagery associated with him gives the reader a clue to what he is really like. With the description of his knife-like teeth, it isn’t a surprise that later on in the novel his words hurt Esch the most.

“Manny was holding the ball as tenderly as he would a pit puppy with pedigree papers. I wanted him to touch me that way”

This description not only shows Esch’s desire for Manny to love her back, it also illustrates his ability to be tender. However, it is important to note that this tenderness is only expressed towards inanimate objects or dogs and never with Esch.

“You got to push…until it stops hurting” 

Although this is the advice that Randall gives Esch when she cuts herself, it is also an important testament to the Batistes’ survival skills: they have learned to push through any obstacle that stands in their way. This quote is also suggestive of the pain that accompanies giving birth, another important theme in the novel.

“China is known among the pit bulls in Bois Sauvage for locking on to dogs and making them cur. She pulls tendons from necks”

China’s forceful and deadly nature is only brought up a few times in the novel. For Skeetah, this quality makes her special and awe-inspiring. Even though China can be calm and gentle, she is also lethal.

“She is her mother’s daughter. She is a fighter. She breathes” 

Although Esch is talking about one of China’s puppies here, the same could be said for Esch herself. Just as her father suggested when he noted the similarities between his daughter and her mother earlier, Esch will be a fighter as well.

“Since it’s just us and Daddy here now with China, the chickens, and a pig when Daddy can afford one, the fields Papa Joseph used to plant around the Pit are overgrown with shrubs, with saw palmetto, with pine trees reaching up like the bristles on a bush. We dump our garbage in a shallow ditch next to the pit, and we burn it. When the pine needles from the surrounding trees fall in and catch fire, it smells okay. Otherwise it smells like burnt plastic”

The description of the Batiste home here denotes a sense of wilderness, almost savagery. The plant life is out of control and they surround themselves with garbage.

“The girly heart that, before Manny, I’d let boys have because they wanted it, and not because I wanted to give it. I’d let the boys have it because for a moment, I was Psyche or Eurydice or Daphne. I was beloved. But with Manny, it was different; he was so beautiful, and still he chose me, again and again. He wanted my girl heart; I gave him both of them…I was bold as a Greek; I was making him hot with love, and Manny was loving me” 

This is a telling description of how Esch sees herself and her relationships with the boys that she has slept with. With them, she becomes another person—figures from Greek myth--as if who she really is isn’t good enough. She also willingly gave herself over to the boys like they had power over her. This demonstrates a severe low opinion of herself. 

“That’s ‘cause some people understand that between man and dog is a relationship…Equal”

This quotation demonstrates Skeetah’s view, not only of his dog, but of nature in general. He doesn’t consider himself above anything else in nature, but rather sees all nature as equal to himself. This sort of respect and sensitivity is characteristic of Skeetah’s character and helps to explain why he treats China with such care.

“In every one of the Greek’s mythology tales, there is this: a man chasing a woman, or a woman chasing a man. There is never a meeting in the middle” 

Taking a cue from the mythological stories that Esch has immersed herself in, the narrator reminds the reader that everything in life is a struggle, even human relationships, and perhaps this is just a part of our nature.

“When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invincible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her”

This is one of many examples where Esch compares herself to the character of Medea and this one is very telling. Not only does she recognize that they both have special gifts, but that it is their love for a man—in Esch’s case, Manny—that makes them weak.

“Bodies tell stories” 

The physical descriptions of the characters in this story say a lot about their personalities. For example, Manny is scarred and has knife-like teeth; Randall and Junior are inseparable; Big Henry is tender and soft. 

“I will not give [Skeet] the chance to see again now. I will not let him see until none of us have any choices about what can be seen, what can be avoided, what is blind, and what will turn us to stone”

Although Esch denies her pregnancy, even to herself for a while, this quotation carries a sense of foreboding that the Batiste family are about to see things that will turn them to stone. By not letting Skeetah see that she is pregnant, Esch tries to spare him from worrying about something that he can’t solve while they are battling other major problems.

“Centered as if the love that boy feels for them anchors them deep as a tree’s roots, holds them still as the oaks, which don't uproot in hurricane wind. Love is certainty”

This is a description of Manny’s girlfriend, Shaliyah, for whom his love provides strength and reassurance that Esch doesn’t have. The moment when the love of the Batiste family is strongest, is when they are jumping to a sturdy oak tree to escape their flooding home. Their family bond, and the way they care for each other, especially at this moment, demonstrates exactly the kind of love that Esch is seeking.

“I’m crying again for what I have been, for what I am, and for what I will be, again” 

This is one of the moments when Esch fully accepts her pregnancy, but it also suggests something about her future. Not only does she regret her past actions but also acknowledges the fact that, at some point in the future, she will do something else that she will later come to regret.

“Medea’s journey took her to the water, which was the highway of the ancient world, where death was as close as the waves, the sun, the wind”

Here, Esch makes another connection to Medea and foreshadows the dangers she will face: flooding and possible death

“China is white as the sand that will become a pearl, Skeetah black as an oyster, but they stand as one before these boys who do not know what it means to love a dog the way that Skeetah does”

This description of the symbiotic relationship between Skeetah and his dog demonstrates the devotion he has towards China. By describing her as a pearl, the narrator reinforces her value in Skeetah’s eyes and how his role is to protect her and help her to develop.

“Make them know even though they want to they can’t live without you, China… Make them know, make them know, make them know”

This is the speech that Skeetah makes to China as he encourages her to prove that she is stronger than others think she is. Because she is female, she is underestimated, but Skeetah wants her to “make them know” that it is her life-giving power that gives her the strength and she needs to prove that to those who doubt her.

“Skeetah unwraps China’s breast, and it hangs free, already bruised and wilted from disuse; it is a dark mark on her, marring what was once so white, so pristine. The scar makes what remains even more beautiful”

This is a description the injury China sustained during her fight. However, through the scar, her body tells a story, and that makes her even more beautiful. Despite the injuries, seeing her alive and well is all the more impressive.

“I scrub, wipe like I could wipe the love of Manny, the hate of Manny, Manny away. And then I get up because it is the only thing I can do…if this is strength, if this is weakness, this is what I do” 

After being violently rejected by Manny, Esch uses all her strength to continue, despite how painful it is. However, she is unable to label it as either strength or weakness; to her, it is merely survival.

“‘Everything need a chance, Esch’ Skeet says” 

The family argues over allowing Skeet to bring China and the puppies into the house during the hurricane. Here, Skeetah argues that the dogs have just as much right to live as anyone else. This demonstrates his immense respect for life of all kinds and may serve as encouragement for Esch to see this value in herself as well as her unborn baby.