Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

The main character in The Lovely Bones, is Susie Salmon. She is a fourteen year old girl living in Pennsylvania with her family. One day she is walking throught the cornfield behind her school, making her way home. She is stopped by Mr. Harvey, her neighbor, who her parents both know. He brutally rapes and murders Susie. Susie is then in heaven and tells her life story in her afterlife. She watches over her family and sees how they struggle with her death. She sees as her father, Jack, and sister, Lindsey try to solve her murder. They are unhappy with the work of the police and their detective on Susie's case. However, Susie's mother, Abigail, just wants to run from dealing with this situation. Susie's younger brother is really too young to understand what is going on but he somtimes can see and sense Susie. As with others she was associated with, they as well have sense of Susie's prescense. After awhile of searching for her muderer, the family soons suspects George Harvey. There is no evidence that he is the killer so therefore the police cannot arrest him. Lindsey breaks into Harvey's house finding potential evidence. In heaven, Susie is able to see Harvey and know about all the other victims of his. The other girls he has killed as well. Mr. Harvey never is caught because he leaves town and never comes back. Although at the end, Susie is watching him and he is going to attack another innocent victim. With some force, it seems, Susie makes an icicle fall. It hits Harvey in the end knocking him unconcious and he falls into a river and dies. By the end of the book, the Salmons all have found their own way of dealing with Susie's death. They've coped with it and know she is watching over them.

1. Do you think it was wrong of Lindsey to break into Harvey's house? Or was it okay because she suspected him of her sister's murder?

2.Was Susie's "force" of the icicle falling and hitting Harvey wrong? Or did he deserve what he got in the end?

21 comments:

AnaleeL7-8 said...

1. I dont think it was ok because it is breaking and entering but if i was in her place i would do the same thing

Sydney M 7-8 said...

Yeah i agree, I think that Lindsey had to do that in order to figure out if Mr. Harvey was the killer.

Ashley B. 1-2 said...

1) I definately think it was wrong considering that is a crime but in agreement if I had the courage I would do the same.
2)I think he did deserve what he got especially after murdering several young girls/women. Susie saved the lives of other people.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

Yeah i completely agree with you, Harvey deserved to be punished after all the crimes he had commited and gone on being uncaught.

Kyle N.1-2 said...

1. I don't think it's ever right to break into someone's house, it's their property. You have to have some really strong evidence or feelings against this person. But that's what makes books interesting.

2. No, it wasn't wrong. She saved a life by ending a killer's. Even though she "killed" him, she saved another life. Her sacrifice meant someone else could live.

Ashlyn W. 7-8 said...

1) Obviously breaking into someone's house is against the law, but I think that it was really necessary in order to find evidence. I would have done the same thing.

Miranda R. 7-8 said...

1. Technically, it was wrong for her to break in because ot is aganist the law. However, in the circumstances, it is understandable why she did.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

2. I don't think that it was really wrong that she made the icicle fall, because she did end up saving a life. I think that even if Harvey did not end up dying he would have eventually got caught, or faced some consequences.

Freddy B. 7-8 said...

1.I agree with Miranda. It was illegal but she needed evidence.
2. I agree with Sarah. She saved a life.

Hannah K. 1-2 said...

1. There are laws against breaking into someone's house without evidence for a reason. However, Lindsey only had good intentions.
2. By killing her attacker, Susie most likely saved many other lives, so it cannot be considered completely amoral.

Unknown said...

1. I do not think it was right of Lindsey to break into Harvey's house. That just got her into more trouble and was very dangerous.

Heather B. 1-2 said...

1.) I think that because Lindsey suspected that Harvey had brutalized her sister, there was nothing wrong with her trying to find evidence to stop him from hurting other girls.

2.) Susie was just trying to protect the other girl, which seems to be a noble cause. She was not wrong.

Kaitlyn K 7-8 said...

I think it was okay for Lindsey to break into his house because she was trying to help find her sisters murderer.

Morgan O 7-8 said...

1)I think it wasn't wrong, but it was also unhelpful because anything she found would not be able to be used as evidence because of the way she found the evidence.

Abby M. 1-2 said...

1. Not to advocate breaking and entering, as it is against the law, but I think that it was right and very courageous of Lindsey to break into Mr. Harvey's house to try to find evidence of the murder. It was the only way to find evidence against him, beacause the police were not doing a good job of it. However, there is a line between courageous and too dangerous, and breaking into his house is definately on that line.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. I think it was okay because Lindsey went with her gut feeling and knew something everyone else did not. She acted out of human nature and we must not penalize her for that.

2. No absolutely not. Susie was bringing justice to Harvey. Susie was the only one who knew that Harvey had killed her. Justice is blind and someone must bring her to the offencer.

Rafiq O. 1-2 said...

1.) Well, what she did was illegal and disrespectful, but you can't blame her for being curious. I would have probably done the same.

-Saw the movie, pretty close to the book, I think.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

Thread graded

Monica J. 1-2 said...

1. i DONT THINK IT WAS OKAY FOR HER TO SNEAK INTO haRVEYS HOUSE BUT IF I WAS HER I WOULD DO THE SAME THING IF I SUSPECTED HIM OF MURDERING MY OWN SISTER.
2. I THINK HARVEY GOT WHTA HE DESERVED IN THE END BECAUSE HE MURDERED HER SO HE DESERVES THE SAME FATE.

Hannah J. 7-8 said...

1.I don't think it was the wisest decision she could have made to sneak into Harvey's house, but she did what she thought was right and acted on her own feelings, i probably would have done the samething if i expected someone of murdering my own sister.
2.I THINK THE Force of the ICICLE FALLING AND HITTING HARVEY WASN"T NECESSARILY WORNG BECAUSE IT STOPPED HIM FROM TURNING ANOTHER GIRL INTO HIS VICTIM

Mrs. Sherwood said...

Thread closed.