Winter's Bone (1-19): An Introduction to the Characters

At the start of Daniel Woodrell's novel, Winter's Bone, he introduces the main character, Ree Dolly, and begins to describe her lifestyle. Because she has two parents who are incapable of taking care of her and her brothers, Ree is left to take care of the house. She splits the wood, takes care of her sick siblings, cooks, cleans, and more. While Woodrell depicts Ree as an independent and mature being, he also divulges that she lacks much happiness or peace. From the start, Woodrell suggests that Ree's home is very dismal and depressing. The "cold front steps" and frigid climate suggest that Ree is uncomfortable in her environment which therefore makes her restless. In addition, it is Ree's home atmosphere that shapes Woodrell's development of each character. Woodrell writes, "The house was...chill in the shadows," and thus he suggests that by being in "the shadows," Ree and her family are stuck in the past; however, the chillness of the past indicates that their lives are negatively "frozen" and they struggle to rise to a better position. This halt in the past is further seen through Ree's mom. Woodrell proposes that she is ill and is losing her memory. Woodrell proclaims that she was "lost to the present," and he suggests that at one point she had a sense of direction and purpose. At the same time, Ree's dad, Jessup, is described as a "broken-faced" man, which further encourages the Dolly's struggle to move from the past. By being "broken," Jessup does not have the strength to help his family rise above their present problems. Thus, it is up to Ree to help her family, however, because of her parents, Ree also struggles to progress into the future.