Winter's Bone: Highlighting the Theme of an Adolescent Serving as the Backbone of the Family

 In Daniel Woodrell’s novel, Winter’s Bone, the underlying themes of adults abandoning their responsibilities along with adolescents having to step up is extremely prevalent. Due to the lack of ownership that her parents have for their children, Ree Dolly is faced with the tremendous pressure of caring for herself, her siblings, and the burdens that her family has left behind for. 

To begin with, Woodrell illustrates the plot of the novel to revolve around the journey that Ree has to go through in order to find her father, who escapes their home in the Ozark mountains just a week before his court date regarding his meth lab. Because of her mother’s condition and her father’s absence, Ree is expected to serve as the support for her brothers and her mother. As described in the novel, “Mom sat in her chair beside the potbelly and the boys sat at the table eating what Ree fed them” (Woodrell 6). Though Ree is constantly drained emotionally and physically after caring for everyone, her love for her family is what keeps her going. Ree cares deeply about the emotions that her family is going through, and tends to put her own on the backburner because of that. For instance, Ree washing her mom’s hair makes her think about how her mom used to get “dolled up a lot” (Woodrell 41) before her dad left, and so she goes out of her way to make her mom feel pretty again. 

Throughout the novel it is evident that Woodrell has written Ree’s character to portray the challenges that women, specifically disadvantaged and young women, have to face. From the beginning of her journey, Ree isn’t taken seriously by the men that she encounters. While talking to Uncle Teardrop about her father showing up in court, he very rudely exclaimed, “That’s a man’s personal choice, little girl. That’s not something you oughta be buttin’ your smarty nose into” (Woodrell 23). Even though Ree was very serious and hopeful about finding her father, people like Uncle Teardrop looked at her just as a young girl even though she was the prime caretaker of the family. Similarly, quotes such as “And even when he does talk, he won’t talk much to women” (Woodrell 60) heavily emphasize how it wasn’t common for women to step up in the roles that Ree is, which contributes to the idea that she isn’t being taken seriously in the search for her father. Ree’s agency within the story highlights the idea that many women have to be the support system and backbone for their families even when people seem to not take them seriously. Ree’s willingness to move past the setbacks she faces within her family and people along her journey showcase the additional obstacles that many women have to overcome, and how the care she has for her family takes priority over herself.

How Ree’s Resilience and Discipline gives her a Fighting Chance

In Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone, Ree is a 16-year-old girl who cares for her two brothers and mother. Ree is forced to look after others at this young age because her mother is mentally ill and her father is lost for the duration of the book (though the book implies Ree has been caring for her brothers and mother for a while, ever before her dad goes missing).

Ree and her family live in The Ozarks. This is clearly a town with very little opportunity and serious problems with drug addiction. In particular, the characters struggle with Crystal Meth, which is referred to as crank in the story. Several characters in the story use or cook Crystal Meth, such as Ree’s dad: “Jessup’s just about the best crank chef these Dollys and them ever have had” (Woodrell, 14). Also, Ree’s uncle Teardrop uses Crystal Meth frequently: “Teardrop reached across to the glove box and grabbed a baby-food bottle of crank” (Woodrell 140).

Despite her poor circumstances, Ree gives the reader hope that she will make something of her life and will break out of the community. She never uses or cooks Crystal Meth and has aspirations to join the army: “off to the U.S. Army, where you got to travel with a gun and they made everyone help keep things clean” (Woodrell, 15). Also, she has been raped by Little Arthur, who is a character she knows well and has to see to track help track her dad down, yet she shows no signs of serious trauma and is able to go about her life seemingly normally. She also does a great job taking care of her brothers. She teachers them practical skills they will need such as how to hunt and defend themselves.

These characteristics all give the reader hope that Ree will be able to get out of The Ozarks and create a better life for herself. At the end of the book, Ree does mention she won’t be leaving The Ozarks for the Army when she says “I ain’t leaving you boys” (Woodrell, 193). However, the reader is left feeling hopeful due to her previous resilience, ability to care for her brothers, and newfound wealth that was given to her dad as bond. I don’t think its much of stretch to imagine Ree taking care of her brothers until they’re older and enlisting in the army after or using the money to move the family out of the Ozarks.

Emma Watson: Role of drugs in Winter's Bone.

 Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone follows the story of 16-year-old Ree Dolly as she tries to find her missing, convicted father before the law rips her and her family’s stability away from them. Ree Dolly is a part of a large community made up of relatives and other families that settled in Riftlin Valley, but her main concerns are keeping her house and providing for her dependent family members. Her life gets jeopardized when her father misses his court date and the law demands that she must give away the land rights. Winter’s Bone provides a narrative based in the Ozarks that explores themes of violence, poverty, desolation, isolation, and family as Ree embarks on her quest.

Woodrell also accomplishes a well-written perspective of drug use and its relationship to the community. As a native of the Ozarks, Woodrell claimed in an interview that he wrote this story based on his experiences in an area gripped by methamphetamine and that it was not only a recreational activity but also a life source. Methamphetamine and other drugs are the underlying foundations for many relationships, and character motivations that drive the plot of the novel.

The book follows a journey to find a convicted man, and the law wants Ree’s father because he was charged with cooking meth and missed his court date. Deputy Baskin implies by saying, “[he’s] just about the best crank chef these Dollys and them ever have had, girl” to Ree that he’s not the only one in the kitchen (Woodrell, pg. 14). The Dollys had a long history of cooking meth, or “crank”, as Ree puts it, that it’s become an expectation for them; however, Ree makes a point to defy it for herself and for others. When caring for the boys, Ree states, “[Her] grand hope was that these boys would not be dead to wonder by age twelve…So many Dolly kids were that way, ruined before they had chin hair, groomed to live outside square law…” (Woodrell, pg. 8).

Woodrell interprets drugs as a negative component that makes people numb, weary, or mean. Ree’s mother has to take pills for her mental illness but it makes her so dazed that she’s entirely dependent on her daughter. She’s like a ghost of her past self to the point that her sons don’t recognize her in her photos. Another example is Uncle Teardrop, who was a chef before his lab blew up and had his side completely scarred. His relationship with drug use will forever be embedded in his skin, and the price he paid with the law will forever be associated with his name. Jessup, Ree’s father, is murdered because he snitched other meth cooks to the police. And lastly, Ree, who only smokes marijuana and refuses to have anything to do with meth becomes so dependent on painkillers that she fears she’s going crazy. After Jessup’s whereabouts, Ree declines Teardrop’s offer to sell meth for money, saying “Crank ain’t for me. Nobody gets better from that shit” (Woodrell, pg. 190) For each example, the character’s relationship with drugs and their abuses harmfully impacts them.

Drug use cripples the people in the valley through its addictive tendencies and enticing income that incarcerates them; powerful people, like Satterfield, then use them to make money through bail bonds. Ree aims to break a vicious cycle by raising the boys to defy the life written by their ancestry. After everything she went through to find Jessup, she defies going down that path like her relatives; instead, she wants to use the money to buy wheels to distance herself and the boys from the valley.

Duty and Loyalty to Kinship

     In Winter's Bone, Woodrell depicts a tight-knit community set on protecting its members at all costs. The Miltons and Dollys keep to themselves, rarely interacting with other extended family members outside of their geographical areas. Both clans are also quite apprehensive and distrusting of the law, stemming from many male family members' involvement with cooking and using crank. Loyalty and duty to kinship are at the heart of the families' values, demonstrated many times throughout the novel.

     Ree Dolly, the 16-year-old heroine of the novel, does everything for the survival of her mother and two younger brothers. Although often brusque in her demeanor, Ree upholds a sense of care and duty to her family, from dressing and washing her mother daily to teaching her brothers to shoot guns, cook dinner, and skin squirrels for food. Prior to the novel's beginning, Ree learned to take on both a maternal and paternal role in her family due to her mother's mental illness and her father's absence. When she learns that her father, Jessup, has put the family home up for his bond but has not been seen in months, Ree embarks on a search for her father, knowing it is the only way to save her family's home. She goes as far as visiting Hawkfall despite a warning from her uncle, where extended Milton family members live. In a moment of resistance after withstanding a brutal beating from the Miltons, Ree says, "I can't listen. I can't just listen" (Woodrell 132). Despite the potential threat of further violence and even death, Ree defies the Miltons' ways on the principle of duty to her family and their home. She must act and do anything to find her father, even if it results in her own demise.

     Loyalty to kinship is central to the values of the Miltons. While driving home after saving Ree from the Miltons, Uncle Teardrop reveals the reason for Jessup's disappearance, stating, "Jessup went'n turned snitch, and that's only the biggest ancient no-no of all, ain't it?" (Woodrell 140). Jessup's lack of loyalty to the Miltons directly defied the family's values, leading to his disappearance and eventual murder. Jessup's killing explains the lack of help Ree receives in finding her father, as earlier in the novel, Ree visits Thump Milton, the patriarch of the family. When she is turned away by his wife, she says, "So, come the nut-cuttin', blood don't truly mean shit to him. Am I understandin' right? Blood don't truly count for diddly to the big man?" (Woodrell 63). Despite appealing to the Miltons' values, Ree is left unanswered about her father's whereabouts. The Miltons initially show loyalty to their own and choose to protect the member that killed Jessup. However, the female members, Thump's wife and her sisters, eventually show some loyalty to Ree and the Dollys by taking her to the site of her father's body so she can retrieve his hands and retain the family house. Despite the conflicts between Ree and the Miltons, their kinship ultimately leads to the loyalty shown to her in the novel's conclusion.

The benefits and pitfalls of drugs in the novel

     The majority of the plot of Winter's Bone revolves around drug use and production in Rathlin Valley. The drug market varies from infrequent and basic marijuana use to drug labs that provide crack to many people in the valley and its surrounding areas. The drugs labs and dealers in the novel are able to receive an income that may benefit them personally, but the frequent occurrence of arrests mean that the dealers' families are poorly affected by the drug business.

    The main example of someone benefitting from the drug market in Rathlin Valley is Jessup. He is well known as a "crank chef" not only in the valley, but in the neighboring towns as well. Ree says that , "[Jessup is] known for never fuckin' up labs nor cookin' bad batches" (Woodrell, 75). Ree also uses her relation to Jessup as a way to extract answers from people when she questions them about his whereabouts. Jessup's high status is the drug community must mean that he benefits financially from his drug production, which is likely the main income for his family. Another indication that the "crank chefs" benefit heavily from their drug production is the fact that there are so many individuals in the business. There would not be heavy involvement in the business, especially with the risk of jail time, if there was not a large market for drugs in the surrounding area. 

    The pitfalls of drugs in the novel often equal or even outweigh the financial benefits of the individuals who make the drugs. For example, Teardop has been left physically maimed by the events of a drug lab gone wrong, which "had eaten the left ear off his head and burned a savage melted scar down his neck to the middle of his back" (Woodrell, 23). Teardop had also done significant jail time as a result of making and selling drugs. His absence from the community while being in jail would not only leave his business without its leader, but also would negatively impact his family. 

    These pitfalls do not only fall onto those who are making or using the drugs in the novel, but often the secondary effects that extend to their families as well. An example of this kind of secondary effect is the fear that Red has of losing her home because of her father's role as a crank chef. Ree says that if this happens, she and her family will be forced, "to live in the fields...like dogs" (Woodrell, 134). So, while Jessup loses his life due to his actions, he also puts his family in jeopardy, who have no part in the drug business. 

Winter’s Bone: Transforming From Child to Provider

            At sixteen years of age, Ree Dolly should be in high school, enjoying her youthful years of limited responsibility. However, an absent father and a sick mother has quickly put her in a position in which she must become the head of her family. Through Ree Dolly’s portrayal, Woodrell shows a glimpse into the hardships of life in the Ozarks, a region in which an isolated and meth-stricken community can get the best of even the youngest.

            At the beginning of the novel, Ree assumes a seemingly temporary position of responsibility, with her father having promised to return “with a paper sack of cash and a trunkload of delights” (Woodrell 4). However, soon after, Ree’s necessity to search for her meth-cook father to save her home puts a major weight on her shoulders at a young age. Ree quickly realizes that “she’d never get away from her family as planned” and “she’d never have only her own concerns to tote” (Woodrell 15). Her brothers are now her dependents, and she must act as both a mother and a father to them.

            Ree shows her brothers how to cook, shoot, and hunt. At the same time, she endures an extensive quest to save her family from becoming homeless. Her quick, permanent assumption of the care of her brothers makes it easy to forget her own young age. A reminder of this is the school bus driver asking her, “Staring back to school?” (Woodrell 47). Not too long before, Ree was just a child, but now, the poverty and prevalence of methamphetamine in the remote Rathlin Valley has forced her to endure a rapid maturity to be able to care for her family.

            The toll that this responsibility takes on Ree can be seen in her realization that she’s in this on her own. When her mother fails to respond to Ree’s pleas for help, her “raised hopes fell to modest hopes, slight hopes, vague hopes, kneeling until any hope at all withered to none” (Woodrell 118). However, this moment of desperation doesn’t stop her brave quest to save her family. In the end, Ree now fully understands her role, telling her brothers that she’d “get lost without the weight of you two on my back” (Woodrell 193). She can no longer leave to pursue her own ambitions, but she has learned to accept her new reality. As a young matriarchal figure in the seemingly male-dominated Ozarks, Ree Dolly represents the devastating effects of the poverty, violence, and isolation of rural America.

Changing Fate: Ree in Breaking the Cycle

 In Daniel Woodrell’s novel Winter’s Bone, it is nearly impossible to get away from the Ozark and in turn away from the cycle of cooking and taking drugs and the danger and violence that comes with it. The protagonist, Ree Dolly, is actively trying to break this cycle by protecting her brothers and by making a plan to join the military to get out of the valley.

Ree wants to break the cycle for her brothers, Sonny and Harold, so that their lives can be better than what is expected to result from living in the Ozark. Her goal is to keep them from being “dead to wonder by age twelve, dulled to life, empty of kindness, boiled with mean” and so she tries to raise them differently than other kids in the valley (Woodrell 8). It is difficult for this cycle of hurt and drugs to be changed unless there is a parental figure willing and able to raise the next generation differently. Ree is in a unique position due to the fact that she is not the boys’ mother but rather their sister, so she has different experiences than their parents do. She is able to raise them differently because of her ‘untraditional’ relationship with them.

Another aspect of the difficulties of getting away from the valley and the fate that is carried with living there is the naming process in this family. The men were majorly divided by one of four names: the “Jessups, Arthurs, Haslams, and Miltons” (Woodrell 62). This was a way of giving them a name that ensures that they “live and die in keeping with those bloodline customs fierce held” (Woodrell 62). This naming process keeps the cycle going and traps them in a future that is hard to avoid. Ree advocated for her brothers and was able to break the cycle by keeping Harold from “becoming a Milton” which allows him to have his own path rather than to be stuck in the fate that the name Milton holds for him in living in the valley (Woodrell 62). Ree is not only forging a new path for herself, but also for her little brothers who she hopes to have a chance at something better than what their future would otherwise hold for them because of who their family is. When Sonny’s father, Blond Milton, offers to take Sonny in, Ree is not even willing to talk about it because “”he’ll make Sonny what [she] hoped he wouldn’t be”” (Woodrell 155). She wants better for her brothers, and she knows that she is their only hope. No one else is making any effort to change their lives besides Ree, so she knows that she is the only one who could break the cycle her family has had going for generations.

Drugs and Poverty in "Winter's Bone"

         Throughout the novel, “Winter’s Bone”, drug trade and production act as the primary means both for making a living and coping with that life.  In this poverty-stricken community, families are looking for any way that they can to simply survive, forcing many, predominantly men who act as the heads of these families, to involve themselves in a high-risk industry.  As a result, the two, poverty and drugs, aid and imbed each other in a vicious cycle, trapping many and stifling any prospects of achieving freedom, a reality exemplified often throughout the novel.  

Because of the prevalence of drugs in this impoverished community, everyone has a notable relationship with them; everyone is touched by their consequences.  In fact, it is the community’s unique drug culture that acts as the primary catalyst for the plot's progression.  Ree’s father’s betrayal is thus a symptom of the larger problem at hand.  The Dolly family’s enduring poverty places them in a position of insecurity.  As a result, cooking meth becomes a good option, a rational option almost, to pursue as a means for making a living.  It will allow their family a degree of freedom that only money can afford them.  However, it cannot provide them security; sooner or later, the law will catch them, as they did Ree’s dad.  At that point, the primary breadwinner is indisposed, stuck in jail, or bailed out on a bond that is worth more than what little they may have, ultimately placing them in a worse position than they started.  The stresses of this life, always teetering on homelessness or starvation, beats the soul down, which can most often only be revived temporarily by the relief of getting high.  So people live their impossible lives finding shallow forms of escapism, which ultimately makes that life harder, placing them firmly exactly where they are with a life’s purpose of bitter survival and little hope for or even imagination of a better future.

The unique relationship between drugs and poverty is best exemplified by Teardrop’s character.  He is a man with a fearsome reputation, not one to be trifled with, achieving this through years of cutthroat action, fueled by his dependence on “crank.”  Drugs have given him an edge, allowing him to carry out confidently with the more violent side of the drug industry.  While drugs have afforded Teardrop with a certain degree of power in this community, so too has it pinned him down.  Throughout the novel, there are numerous mentions of the various bonds that Teardrop has been placed on, as well as a run in with the law that he manages to escape from only because of Ree’s presence.  Not even the strong and implacable Teardrop is immune to the tyranny that is drugs and their consequences.  

Unconventional Caretaking in Winter's Bone

In Winter’s Bone, author Daniel Woodrell wastes no time introducing the reader to the chaotic Ozarks. With a mentally ill mother and a meth-cooking father, sixteen-year-old Ree is tasked with being the primary caretaker and parental figure in the Dolly household. However, her skills are not usually evident in a stereotypical mother.

The surprise visitation of officer Baskins is first met with annoyance by Ree. As officer Baskins seeks out her mother, Ree attempts to dissuade him, “‘I got to talk with your momma.’ ‘She ain’t in the mood’’(Woodrell 12). Ree understands that her mother is in no place to have a stable conversation with her and certainly not a police officer. Unfortunately, officer Baskins still endures the catatonic commentary of her mother, “‘You can’t bust a girl in her own daddy’s house’...Ree watched Baskin’s face spin through reactions, brief alarm, then confusion, sadness, resignation, pity” (Woodrell 13). Baskins now has the full scope of the situation. A dysfunctional mentally-ill mother and grave news to deliver to no fully-functioning adult. Nonetheless, Ree assumes the caretaker role and maturely states, “Just tell me” (Woodrell 13). Ree’s blunt answer is one of immediate reaction. She knows that she is the only one that can assume some kind of responsibility for whatever officer Baskin announces to her. Woodrell made sure to emphasize  Ree’s role by introducing the chapter with a very non-stereotypical scene of a woman, with teenage Ree swinging an axe and chopping wood, an often male-dominated task. He even describes her swings as “practiced and powerful”, emphasizing her frequency and proficiency in doing this task. 

Ree’s unorthodox caretaking is ever-present as the book progresses, with shooting lessons for Sonny and Harold being next on the agenda. Her role as a parental figure expands to protector as she states, “I wasn’t sure just when you boys’d need to know about shootin’, but I think maybe now it’s time you do” (Woodrell 78). Ree’s unconventional approach to protection is out of a desire to care for them and keep them safe. She specifically uses the word “need” as if it was only a matter of time before she would show them how to protect themselves. As Ree beckons the boys outside, she warns them about picking the proper targets, “No bottles. The glass’ll wash down to the yard in spring’n I’ll be doctorin’ your feet all goddamn summer” (Woodrell 79). Although a passing thought for Ree, her advice is very maternal in nature. The unconscious caretaking of the boys is assertive, but out of unconditional love for them. Also, it is to be noted that she mentions that she will be “doctorin’” their feet all summer. This is a reminder that she not is only the boys’ primary parental figure but also their only caretaker. 

Ree’s unlikely role as a primary caretaker is brought upon by her unfortunate circumstances at her home. However, she takes this role in stride. She is able to display that she is mature enough to hear the news of her father’s decision to put their home up for collateral but also caring enough to show her brothers how to protect themselves when necessary. Her parental role is not stereotypical and reinforces her strength as the adaptive heroine of Winter's Bone.

Winter's Bone: On the Duality of Ree

 In Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell introduces perhaps the most profound character we’ve read about all semester: Ree Dolly. An awesomely strong young woman, Ree transcends much and overcomes more in a novel that packs centuries of Ozark Mountains lore into 200 pages. She exhibits two principal sides of herself throughout the novel, both of which are important to her success as a character.

Woodrell repeatedly shows the reader that Ree can be cold and hard, both emotionally and physically. She is, in so many ways, far from the typical sixteen-year-old girl: wielding shotguns, sleeping naked in caves, retrieving her dead father’s hands for proof of his death (179, 68, 186). Ree takes beatings and threatens to shoot people, all the while acting as the primary caretaker of her two brothers and mother, which is among the largest responsibilities imaginable. That role as the supporter of her family is especially important because it acts as the bridge between the two facets of Ree’s character.

In the rural community in which she was “bred’n buttered,” Ree is required to have a rough exterior and a dutiful attitude (125). However, in Woodrell’s own words, Ree is beneath that exterior revealed to be “brave, resolute, and capable of deep and compassionate feeling” (A Conversation With Daniel Woodrell 3). Like any parent, her duty to her family is rooted in her love for them. The hardships she endures and the sacrifices she makes are all in the interest of keeping her family together in the house they grew up in. Indeed, Ree’s “grand hope” is that Sonny and Harold avoid growing up to be “dead to wonder by age twelve, dulled to life…groomed to live outside square law,” and she suspects that being raised in another household could lead to that outcome (8, 155). Ree similarly cares for her mother, who is nearly bedridden. Although she occasionally wishes for her mother to be a mother again, Ree has reconciled with the fact that it will never happen. In short, then, Ree is the protector of all three of them, and in order to protect them she must be tough enough to endure the required trials. When it comes to the hard and soft sides of herself, Ree cannot have one without the other.

Examples of Ree’s strength and tenderness abound in Winter’s Bone – certainly too many to include them all. One more worthy of mentioning, though, is Ree’s relationship with Gail. It is a wonderfully rich connection that further presents Ree as a young girl who is searching for companionship.

Woodrell brings the Ozark winter to life through Ree, whose quest to find her father reveals her to be an impressive protagonist that one cannot help but root for.

Uncle Teardrop: Destroyer and Protector

    I paraphrase Woodrell from the video we saw in class: "Life in the Ozarks takes learning to love people who should not be loved." Having finished Winter's Bone, I believe Woodward best encapsulates this idea with the character of Uncle Teardrop. He's more often high on crank than not. He has killed people, ran labs, is violent in nature, and is unpredictable, and acts sporadically on impulse. In the opening of the novel, he is a terrifying, unlikeable presence for Ree. Throughout the novel, however, we see him evolve towards a protector figure for Ree, but Woodrell does this in an interesting way. Teardrop does not improve on his poor character traits, but his eventual respect for Ree and the way he saves her is admirable. By the end, Ree and Teardrop have a strong familial bond, and Teardrop is Ree's protector from danger. Despite Teardrop being a character who really doesn't deserve Ree's or the reader's love, he earns it through his admirable actions by the conclusion of the novel.

    The reader is introduced to Teardrop with Ree's awkward visit to his home. Entering, Ree quickly noticed "[a] silver pistol and clip rested in a nut bowl on the lazy Susan centered upon the table. Beside the pistol there was a big bag of pot and a pretty big bag of crank" (Woodrell 22). This is an uncomfortable environment for Ree made significantly more uncomfortable by the entrance of Uncle Teardrop. He doesn't respect Ree at first, telling her off at the idea of she "buttin' [her] smarty nose into" (Woodrell 23)  Jessup's whereabouts. Teardrop has a scary face as a reminder of a lab he blew up with a "melted scar down to his neck to the middle of his back" (Woodrell 23). The scene following is bizarre. He grabs Ree by her hair and face, then:

[He] pressed a hand around her windpipe and held her still. He leaned his face to hers from above and nuzzled his melt against her cheek, nuzzled up and down, then slid his lips to her forehead, kissed her once, and let go. (Woodrell 26).

I'm not sure what to make of this interaction, but I think Woodrell is trying to speak to Teardrop's strange dual role. This is outright creepy, and he's imposing his strangeness and roughness on Ree to her horror. Still he kisses her and sends her away with cash to relieve a bit of her financial burden. Throughout the book, he's outright unpredictable and acts dangerously. He narrowly avoids a DUI by talking down the deputy. He's always on crank and behaves sporadically. He warns Ree specifically never to tell him who killed Jessup because he knows one day he would lose control after too much crank and kill the guy. Teardrop is an agent of destruction and instability, and this is consistent throughout the novel.

    Despite his destructive tendencies, Teardrop is Ree's strongest protector and ally. Teardrop unsuccessfully tries to trick Ree with an old burnt-out lab to convince her to stop looking for Jessup. This is an act of protection by Teardrop for Ree, and he knows the danger Ree is putting herself in by dealing with people in Hawkfall. After Ree is brutally beaten and lying in her own shit, Teardrop is her savior. He deals with the Miltons and agrees to share her burden. He says to Thump, "[i]f she does wrong, you can put it on me" (Woodrell 137). He knows how to appease the Miltons and get Ree out of her sticky situation. At this point, Ree is concussed, is bleeding, and needs rescuing, and Teardrop is her rescuer. Without Teardrop showing up, the Miltons may have killed her. He makes sure she gets home safely and agrees to help her find Jessup's body. Finally, Ree earns Teardrop's respect, and she responds in her daze by reaching "across the seat to Uncle Teardrop's arm, and squeez[ing], squeez[ing] again" (Woordrell 141). I believe that Woodrell's choice to make half of Teardrop's face burned and scarred is intentionally reflective of his character. He's split. His tendencies are unpredictable, and he's rough around the edges, but at the end of the day he's a protector. He's there for Ree when she needs it most.

Biblical References in Winter’s Bone

     In Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell includes a biblical allusion to the tale of Adam and Eve in order to contrast Ree’s characterization as opposed to the corrupt Ozark community she was born into.

    When discussing the Ozark “religion” Ree begins with a story about “Haslam, Fruit of Belief” (65) who is led to “a perfect garden spot, paradise” (65). Through the retelling of this generational tale, Woodrell pushes the reader to recognize the similarity between Ree’s story and the biblical story about Adam and Eve. He does so by including similarities between various well-known components of the story such as “Haslam” and “Adam”, the “Fruit of Belief” and the “Forbidden Fruit”, as well as the “perfect garden spot” and the “garden of Eden”. This biblical reference is used in two ways. 

    First, Woodrell uses the allusion to show Ree’s innocence. In the beginning of the story, Adam and Eve are naked, but unaware and unashamed because they haven’t yet sinned. However, after Adam eats the apple from the Tree of Life, they become aware that they betrayed God, are suddenly embarrassed of their nakedness, and try to clothe themselves. Shortly after Ree recalls her family’s misconstrued version of Adam and Eve, she confidently strips down in the cave in order to warm up. By shedding her clothes, she mimics Adam and Eve in the beginning of the story before they commit sin which is what Woodrell wants his readers to take note of. Ree’s nakedness is meant to symbolize goodness and lack of sin, just as it did in the original Adam and Eve story.  

    The second purpose of including Ree’s retelling of Adam and Eve’s story stands to reinforce her Ozark community’s outdated and corrupt views, specifically about women. Still speaking of her family’s religious tale, Ree recalls that, “there had been a map to this paradise,” in reference to the garden and after a while, everything, “turned ravenous” and when placing blame, “all [Ree’s relatives] ever said was there’d been a woman” (66). The Dolly family passed the story on for generations, indicating that religion is of some importance to them, so they follow the messages they interpret from the generational stories. However, their corruption is displayed in how the story has changed throughout the generations from the Biblical version to placing blame on “a woman” instead of the original culprit of the tale, the devil.  Through the Dollys' misconstrued version of Adam and Eve, in addition to highlighting Ree's goodness, Woodrell gives his readers the full scope of how deeply corruption and misogyny are rooted within the culture of Ree’s community.

Agency and Patriarchy in Winter's Bone

  The outwardly patriarchal structure of the Dolly clan contributes to Ree’s struggle, but also to the emphasis on her own independence in Winter’s Bone relative to the other women in her family. Ree, in the absence of her father, must contend with the alteration of her role in the family. Throughout the novel, as we see Ree contact her family members for help reaching out to her dad, we are introduced to a myriad of family dynamics, most of which include a dominating male and a submissive female. Ree subverts the natural order of her community and is shown to have more agency over her actions, without a man to silence her.

An example of the dominance of men is seen when Ree first reaches out to Teardrop for help in locating Jessup. As Ree talks to Victoria, Teardrops’ wife, about her circumstances, Teardrop interrupts their conversation to tell Ree to stay out of it (22). While Victoria is silenced by her husband, the most she is able to contribute being a joint for Ree to smoke, Ree is permitted the agency to argue withTeardrop, taking control of her search for Jessup. Though her independence has consequences, as Teardrop drags her by her hair and refuses to give her information, she is allowed a greater degree of influence without a man to silence her and negate, or make invisible, her presence.

This pattern is again seen when Ree goes to speak with Thump Milton. She speaks to a woman who acts as Thump Milton’s mouthpiece. She says, when Ree asks for help, “He knows you were in the valley, child. With Megan. And at Little Arthur’s. He knows what you want to ask and he don’t want to hear it” (63). Like Victoria, this woman is used as a vessel for a man’s wishes. Even further, the woman is not allowed to speak her own words, but rather speaks the words of Thump Milton. The woman acknowledges the unusual position Ree is in; coming as herself to speak with Thump Milton instead than a man doing it for her. She says, “Ain’t you got no men could do this?” (59). This question shows how Ree has a freedom compared to women who are linked to men: she confronts Thump Milton herself, instead of sending a man. Although Ree is not controlled by a man, and without a man through which to voice her requests, her journey to find Jessup becomes harder, as Thump Milton “won’t talk much to women” (60). 

Ree is freed from the normal patriarchal family structure and behavior code due to her absent father. With this freedom, Ree works to actualize her fate as she looks for Jessup and struggles to keep her house. On her journey, her independence is juxtaposed to the women she encounters, who are dominated and controlled by the men in their lives. Although, with freedom comes a lack of male security and privilege, leading Ree to face a greater struggle to get information and gain respect.

Teardrop's Delayed Loyalty

 Loyalty is a scarce commodity for Ree Dolly. Ree certainly has plenty of loyalty to her two young brothers and her medicated mother. Many members of the community/family Ree is a part of also tend to preach loyalty to the group. However, when Ree needs that loyalty the most, it seems to work against her. However, in the end one of the most hardened family members, Teardrop, Ree's Uncle, is the one who extends a hand of loyalty and compassion first, and a few others seem to follow, even if less so. 

When the reader first meets Teardrop, he is firmly against Ree pursuing any information on the whereabouts of her father. The first line he speaks is in response to Ree telling his wife Victoria that Ree plans to find her father, to which he responds, "You ought not do that... Don't go running after Jessup" (Woodrell 23). Teardrop states his opinion bluntly and clearly, he does not want Ree looking for any information about her father. Ree attempts to convince him, but in the end Teardrop just gives Ree some money in hopes of alleviating some of the issues and tells her to leave. Ree goes on her search anyways, however, and finds little help. She asks around in Hawkfall for information, and specifically she tries to ask Thump Milton if he knows anything, but she is ultimately turned away by his wife until later in the book. When Ree returns to try and converse again, she is met with immediate hostility and is severely beaten by Merab (Mrs.Thump) and her sisters. After blacking out and coming back to consciousness, Ree overhears someone say, "She's crazy to've come here" (Woodrell 131). So, even after all this time, very little loyalty to family is being shown to Ree, and Ree is even called crazy for trying to get some answers about where her father is. This changes, even slightly, however, when Teardrop comes to collect her after the beating. Thump Milton asks Teardrop if he is willing to vouch for Ree, and Teardrop responds with, "If she does wrong, you can put it on me ... This is a girl who ain't goin' to tell nobody nothin'" (Woodrell 137). This is the first bit of loyalty shown from a family member to Ree while attempting to find answers about her father. And this show of loyalty has affects seen by many in the family. Immediately after being taken home by Teardrop, Ree starts to feel the affects this grand show of loyalty has. Family members and others who live near Ree all start to come and visit to see what happened, all remarking that what has happened to Ree is no way to treat a girl in their community. They also come to provide as much help as they can in forms of pills that help Ree stave off the pain and make a fairly swift recovery. After said recovery, or certainly in the end of it, Ree sees the ultimate affects of the loyalty Teardrop shows her when Merab and her sisters show up at Ree's doorstep, saying they will take her to her dad's bones. When asked why Ree should trust them, they simply say, "We need to put a stop to all this upset talk about us we've been havin' to hear" (Woodrell 180). Merab and her sisters finally giving in to show Ree to her father's remains show just how powerful loyalty can be. Even when one family member shows a small bit of loyalty to Ree, the ripples are seen through the whole family. Ree's once impossible task that she gets severley beaten over quickly becomes not just possible, but done. Teardrop's loyalty is what eventually solves Ree's problem.

Daniel Udelhoven

Cycle of Abuse the Women Endure

        Throughout the novel Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell illustrates the abuse and disrespect the women receive from the men. While the men’s future career options are very limited (meth cook), the women are left with the role of being a wife and mother. Ree tries to escape this cycle by joining the military and rejecting the societal expectations predetermined for her. 

        Ree watches the women in her life suffer at the hands of men and experiences the abuse herself. The women are seen as objects in this part of the Ozarks. The town’s beliefs seem to be built on the idea that women are always the one’s to blame. In the cave, Ree remembers the story of the bitter old reckoning–how the town came to be. According to Ree, all the people in town say “there’d been a woman” when discussing the reckoning (Woodrell 66). It resembles the Bible with the story of Adam and Eve. It is often taught that Eve is to blame for sins, and it seems the people in town blame the bitter reckoning on women as well. 

This attitude is evident in all the marriages and the men and women's interactions in the novel. Ree’s mother suffers from a mental illness after enduring abuse, being cheated on, and living through the stress of her husband’s frequent absences. Ree’s mom finds “a few beatings for love in life” bearable, but “It was those terrible ass-whippings she’d taken during one-night stands” that leave her shaken up (Woodrell 42). The men have such little respect for the women in the town that after barely even knowing them, they resort to physically abusing them.

Furthermore, marriage does not hold much significance in the town. Both Ree’s mother and father cheat on each other. One of the main reason’s Ree’s mother loses her mind is due to her father’s long term relationship with April. Ree notices how her “Mom’s mind didn’t break loose…until…she learned about Dad’s girlfriend” (Woodrell 30). The men are allowed to run around and do the things they desire, but they expect the women to raise the children and keep the house. 

Women get caught in this toxic cycle by getting pregnant at a young age. Ree witnesses “pregnant girls she knew huddled by their special side entrance holding textbooks and bumping bellies” at school (Woodrell 48). Ree’s friend, Gail, gets pregnant at a young age. As Ree watches her breastfeed, she sees “the looming expected kind of future and not one she wanted” (93). Furthermore, Ree experiences abuse at the hands of men, furthering her animosity towards men. Her cousin rapes her after tricking her by saying, “a handful of mushrooms…make fried baloney taste the way gold looks” (54). Woodrell insinuates that the mushrooms were actually psilocybin mushrooms, giving Ree an hallucinogenic effect. During this effect, her cousin rapes her, and Ree notices after the drugs wear off saying, “If not for her ripped panties she might not have later been sure it happened at all” (55). After this traumatic experience combined with viewing the other experiences of the women in her life, it makes sense why she says, “‘I ain’t lookin’ to marry’” (168). 

Love and Companionship in Winter's Bone

 Throughout Winter’s Bone, Woodrell depicts the Ozarks as a loveless community where relationships are forged and broken in times of stress, heartbreak, and bleakness. By highlighting the relationship between Ree and her friend Gail, Woodrell helps to exhibit how their relationship in the Ozarks is formed and tested and allows the girls to meet their respective needs. While taking care of her family and searching for her father, Ree desires emotional support and a companion to help her through this stressful endeavor. Gail, who is alienated by her husband, seeks emotional and social intimacy. The girls find solace in meeting each other’s needs, especially in a community that suppresses love and companionship.

Many of the members of the Ozarks community are unable to find love through friends or partners, because several other needs are always competing for their attention. Whether they are dealing with stress, poverty, hunger, or other issues, these needs take priority over forming loving connections. For example, Ree must provide food, shelter, and life lessons for her younger brothers while also taking care of her mentally ill mother. She acts as a stand-in parent for the boys and teaches them numerous skills to help them survive, such as making deer stew (Woodrell 19). Like many other young adults, taking care of her siblings and being forced to grow up at a young age, Ree might be considered “dead to wonder” and “dulled to life” (Woodrell 8).  She finds herself shielded from many forms of love or companionship, simply because she must take care of her family before attending to her own needs; however, her relationship with Gail allows her to explore the various forms of support that the friendship offers her.

Both Ree and Gail possess needs that are only met through their support for each other. Although Ree receives some love from her family, they do not offer the emotional support Ree needs. By having to take care of her family while also search for her father, Ree often finds herself isolated and trying to take on the world alone. Ree is not looking for romantic connections, as she expresses “I ain’t lookin’ to marry” (Woodrell 168). Instead, Ree is searching for the companionship that she finds with Gail. Similarly, Gail is looking for a sense of intimacy and trust with someone, as her husband is unable to provide these to her in their marriage. Gail cannot rely on her husband, but she can rely on Ree, which is illustrated when Gail is locked out of her house by Floyd, and Ree simply “held the quilts pulled wide, patted the sheet, and said, ‘One log alone won’t hold fire’” (Woodrell 101). The girls yearn for emotional support, intimacy, and a sense of trust in each other when they cannot find these qualities in other members of the community.

The Ties of Duty, Community, and Family in Winter's Bone

        One of the main themes in Winter’s Bone is the scene of duty, community, and family found in the Dolly clan. Duty is found chiefly in the main character Ree. This protagonist is the sole caretaker of her two brothers and mother. She not only puts food on the table but cares for her ailing mother and teaches her brothers life skills. For example, on pg. 106, Ree teaches the boys how to skin squirrels, knowing they will one day be hunting squirrels themselves. Ree does all of this without question. Not only does she carry no resentment towards her mother for being sick or cheating on her father, Ree cares for her brothers equally despite Sonny being from a different father. Regardless, she feels it is her responsibility to care for her family. 

        However, the duties of caretaking and family expand into the community. These caretaking duties range from small to large. At the beginning of the novel, Sonja brings “‘meat… Canned stuff. Some butter and such’” over for Ree’s family to use (pg. 17). Sonja feels responsible for helping out her fellow community members. She knows Ree cannot afford or supply these goods for her family. Later in the novel, however, Teardrop comes to save Ree after being beaten by Mrs. Thump and her sisters (pg. 135). Even though Ree is only his niece, Teardrop takes responsibility for Ree’s actions and wellbeing. He brings her back home, helping to care for her with others in the community. Teardrop did not owe anything to Ree but felt it was his duty to help her. 

        The duties and responsibilities found in the community all link to a sense of family in the novel. Ree, her brothers, Sonja, and Teardrop, along with all the other Dollys, form a family; they are connected by blood, no matter how small. This blood bond produces a duty and responsibility to help one another. This bond ultimately leads Mrs. Thump and her sisters to lead Ree to her father's dead body. While they may not share a strong blood connection, there is a bond in the community. 

        One of the key takeaways from this novel is that family does not always meet societal expectations. Winter's Bone is a story of a family, messed up and dysfunctional as it may be. Family bonds are strong; they are what save Ree and her family. Duty, love, and loyalty can all be expressed through different meanings, just as it is in the novel. Despite the death, violence, drugs, and poverty, the Dolly family still cares for and loves one another. 

The Sacrifice Ree Makes for Her Brothers

     In Winter’s Bone, Woodrell writes about a young teenage girl, Ree, who is trying to do everything in her power to help keep her family's home. Ree’s father is missing, and for her family to keep their home, her father must attend his court date. Before Ree began looking for her father, she was planning to join the military so that she could escape her town. Ree ends up staying at home and sacrificing her life and happiness, since she thought the only person capable of taking care of her family is herself. This is why Ree could not imagine herself joining the military at the end of the novel.

  At the beginning of the novel, Ree is planning to join the military so that she can get away from her town and have a new fresh start. This dream of hers is pushed aside, once she realizes that she is going to have to search for her father and take care of her family on her own. While Ree is on her mission to find her father, she puts herself through many terrible conditions while going to different houses. The weather is terrible during this time of the year, and during one of her trips, “White wads broke on her head and dripped to her shoulders to freeze and thicken” (Woodrell p.64). Even though the weather is not fit for anyone to be walking, Ree does it anyway because she needs to know where exactly her father is. She could have died from the cold weather and wind, but Ree knows that she has to go through these conditions in order to save her family's home. This is a sacrifice that Ree felt like she must make, since she considers her brothers her liability. Whenever Ree went to Hawkfall a second time, she is beaten up by a group of women so badly that, “her legs were decked with bruises that colored uglier as she watched” (Woodrell p.133). This beating went on for a while, and once again, Ree sacrifices her life to make sure her brothers will be protected. This piece of information shows how determined Ree is to make sure her family is taken care of. Ree goes through these terrible conditions and sacrifices her happiness for her brothers to grow up and have a good life. 

After Ree finds out where her father is at, she decides to stay at home with her brothers, instead of going away to the military. Ree realizes that she belongs at home with her brothers, and she is fine with sacrificing her life to parent her brothers. Once she realizes that she no longer is going to have to worry about losing the house, she told the boys, “I’d get lost without the weight of you two on my back” (Woodrell p.193). This information shows how her character has changed, and she no longer wants to go to the military. She now feels like the boys are her responsibility since her father is dead, and she does not want them to have to fend for themselves. This is a big sacrifice that Ree makes, but she is fine with doing it since it meant that her brothers would have someone taking care of them.  

Ree goes through many obstacles to make sure her brothers would have a house, and someone to take care of them. The reason as to why she did all these things is because she feels like her brothers are her responsibility. She did not trust anyone but herself to provide for her family, so that is why she made the sacrifice of staying at home with them instead of going into the military.  

Constructing a Utopia

Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel The Ministry for the Future gives readers a glimpse of the disastrous near future. Robinson imagines a world where a catastrophic heat wave in India kills 20 million people and an international organization called The Ministry for the Future is founded under the Paris Agreement with the promise of prioritizing the future generations’ rights as if they were those of the present. The organization is led by Mary Murphy, a former minister of Ireland. Frank, the sole survivor of the India heat wave, seeks solutions outside the law and helps refugees displaced by the climate disasters. In the periphery are the violent group the Children of Kali, which Frank seeks to join. This group seeks immediate retribution for climate crimes and those who have committed “mass murder” through their exacerbation of the climate crisis. The future Robinson imagines requires completely reimagining the way we conduct our lives, our governments, and how we allocate our resources. He responds to a dystopian catastrophe with a utopian future.

    Robinson presents a utopian global society as the solution to climate change. It requires the way we have lived thus far to be completely reimagined. The innovations and technology presented in the novel are based on thoroughly researched ideas proposed in real life: geoengineering to prevent glaciers from melting, replacing planes with solar-powered air travel, and switching over currency to carbon coin. Self-sufficient communities are the ones that fair the best in the future. Mary travels the world trying to convince banks to change to carbon coin and incentivise governments to cut down emissions, but she is often met with resistance. While Robinson seems not to favor violence, violent threats and anonymous attacks cause almost immediate change in the novel. When planes are bombed, air travel plummets and solar powered solutions are ushered in. The ministry itself is bombed. To me these seem like some of the more realistic moments in the novel. I have a very pessimistic view of the future, and I think the moments of violence and resistance are reflective of human nature, even in the midst of Robinson’s utopia. I find it hard to believe that the world can come to agreement on any radical and global changes. But what does seem imminent is an organization with legal power and backed by the government but as a separate branch is the ministry itself. Mary as a former minister believes that policy making will make change, “we work within the law. I think that gives us a better chance of changing things,” while Frank is more reckless and wants to work outside the law, he says, “but it isn't working fast enough” (99). Both of these characters in contrast to each other represent the two perspectives on the future, one in which legislation and policy will change the world, and the other where work in the field and outside the law will make the greatest change. But no matter what, it will take a lot of money and possibly a fatal and tragic event to convince people to work faster.

    The book is ultimately a hopeful tale, but to reach Robinson’s prediction of the future, the human race will have to survive with radical changes to their way of life as they know it and stand in solidarity and selflessness. 

The Ministry for the Future: Feasible or fantasy?

 In Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, we see a world where climate change is the main priority and people live environmentally. However, this change does not come out of nowhere. It takes a heat wave in India killing thousands of people before the Ministry is created and worldwide climate action starts. Will Robinson's vision of the world ever become reality?

Personally, I see The Ministry for the Future as an interesting speculation, but not an instruction manual for building the "perfect society". There are lots of issues with the way that people live in the novel, and such widespread change does not feel realistic in our current society. For example, the replacement of international air travel with airships and boats is not something that would be realistic without a huge change in our work culture, and even then, the change would probably not be very popular. In order to force these extreme cultural changes, various environmental groups in the novel have to do extreme things like blowing up commercial airplanes. I would of course hope things don't come to this point in our reality. Robinson's vision of his society may be a "utopia", but considering how much violence it took to get there, I don't see it as the best example to follow.

The biggest reason that such extreme changes are possible in The Ministry for the Future is because climate change is the main issue that the world is united against to solve. We saw something similar with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, where the entire world seemed to stop and put aside convenience and commerce to try to stop the pandemic. This kind of international focus could be possible for climate change, but it likely won't happen unless something very serious happens like at the beginning of the novel. Instead, I think that less drastic changes and new technological innovations will help us live more environmentally and protect the planet.

What must we give up?

Response to combination of two prompts:

How different is the world Robinson imagines from the world in which we live? What would you need to give up to live in such a world? 

“To be clear, concluding in brief: there is enough for all. So there should be no more people living in poverty. And there should be no more billionaires. Enough should be a human right, a floor below which no one can fall; also a ceiling above no one can rise. Enough is as good as a feast—or better” (58). Robinson invites the reader to respond to his suggestion. How do you respond? 

The world that Kim Stanley Robinson imagines in The Ministry for the Future is not much different than the world in which we live. But only in the beginning. By the end of the story, Robinson’s society has an entirely different cultural identity than our world; it is more focused on community and less on endless individual choice. Frank experiences the deadly heatwave in India during the year 2025. While it seems unimaginable that such a horrific event would happen so near in the future, it’s not. More than 4,000 people died in 2015 in India and Pakistan due to a heat wave. (Rafferty) Furthermore, The World Health Organization predicts that “around 89,000 people are estimated to die every year in India from hot temperatures… With 4C of global warming, heat deaths will rise to 1.5 million a year.” (Fickling, Pollard) Robinson succeeds in painting a realistic futuristic picture of what our world would turn into if we leave the climate crisis alone. The horrifying events are horrifying because they are realistic.

However, the reality of Robinson’s solutions is more questionable. The entire world would be forced to give up their way of life. The intense rise of nationalism (especially in the US) and individualism (especially in the Western world), will make the process of solving the climate crisis excruciatingly painful and slow. Robinson’s solutions come from the destruction of a capitalistic economy and the creation of a legitimate, sometimes violent, power from a global government. First, this means that entire nations would need to give up their power to an international government. Nations would then need to provide enough resources to every single person so that no one lives in poverty. 

More practically, people would need to give up the ability to have everything they want at any moment in time. This means no more billionaires, no more one-day Amazon deliveries, and no more abundant immediacy. Communities would need to become more self-sustaining and provide people with the ability to have everything they really need close to them. The rest of the solution falls around that. People would need to give up their time-frame to focus on a community-based schedule that allows sustainable transportation (trains, bikes, etc.). Robinson provides a glimpse of this life through the dismantling of the bank system, introducing the carbon-coin, and changing transportation methods. The true essence of Robinson’s imagined world appears when he discusses the celebration of Gaia. “We are all children of this planet, we are going to sing its praises all together, all at once… to take the responsibilities that come with being stewards of this earth, devotees of this sacred space.” (Robinson 501) Robinson imagines a world in which people must give up their way of life in order to gain the gift of life itself.

The Ministry of the Future: Inspirational or Pessimistic?

 The world the Robinson presents is seemingly a Utopia with very few on the path to resistance. He presents a world where people are actually acting against climate change and pushing for a new, better world for the future. However, the way that these changes finally come around are rather gruesome and readers often find themselves questioning if this is even possible. On one hand Robinson creates a template to redefine the modern world and launch it into a world where wealth is more fairly distributed and action against climate change happens at an extremely quick pace. On the other hand, the solutions that Robinson suggests are so radical so far from what the world can see. Often throughout the book readers are posed with the question of whether this book is inspiring the next generation or disheartening them. 

There are many actions that the Ministry takes such as their glacier project, carbon coin, and many other actions that create real change in the world. These ideas produce tangible results as seen in the last COP mentioned in the novel as the world is actually pulling carbon from the atmosphere faster than it is being replaced. Robinson has seamlessly laid the blueprint for what a world could look like to fix the effects of climate change. Things move slower, work is done with more deliberation and much of the world seems to be reclaiming everything it had lost. Robinson seems to be suggesting that a worldwide organization with the power to use actual incentives and actual punishment is a possible solution to this problem. So why hasn’t the world acted on it yet?

The short answer is it is too difficult and would require too much work. The solutions that the Ministry comes up with requires billions of dollars in investments and extreme amounts of cooperation from countries around the world. They also use less humane tactics such as targeted assassinations and use death almost as a catalyst to reach their goals. Is this what Robinson is suggesting needs to be done to enact actual change? 

The optimistic reader would say that it wouldn’t require the death of people but the death of ideologies and modern philosophies. Optimists would say that there just needs to be a wave of individuals that are willing to sacrifice the comforts they have gotten used to and Robinson’s world is achievable. The pessimistic reader looks at all of the work that was necessary for the Ministry to reach their goals and claims them as impossible. They would say that the end of capitalism is much less likely than the end of the world and society faces a certain doom. 

There’s something to learn from both the optimistic and pessimistic readers. It’s important to think like the optimist, look at what could be and be inspired to reach for the utopia that Robinson proposes is possible. It’s also important to think like the pessimist and realize the work and sacrifice that is necessary for Robinson’s world. The difference is being willing to push through the hard work and sacrifice that the pessimist sees because of the vision of the optimist.

Mother Mary and Being Frank

 As you will have noticed, The Ministry for the Future jumps about all over the place. Nevertheless, if the novel has two protagonists, they are Mary Murphy and Frank May. What is the significance of their names? What does it mean to be frank? With whom do you associate the name Mary? How do you think their names are supposed to shape your response to the book? How does the relationship between Frank and Mary mirror the action of the book? 

Mary Murphy and Frank May both have significant names. Mary Murphy represents the hope in humanity through the image of the Virgin Mary. Mary acts through the bureaucracy to attempt to create impactful legislative and economic change. By nature, her work is diplomatic and level-headed; there is no room to be demanding and brute when you are working with some of the most powerful and important people in the world. Frank May, on the other hand, represents the urgency of the situation at hand. After his experiences in India, Frank can be considered radicalized compared to the majority opinion. He believes that the best way to solve the climate change problem is to be frank about the situation at hand. Having first-hand experience with what the world would look like after climate change, Frank wants a rapid solution. To solve climate change quickly Frank needs to be “frank” about who is primarily responsible for destruction and what should be done to stop them. Mary says to Frank, “we work within the law. I think that gives us a better chance of changing things,” to which Frank replies, “but it isn’t working fast enough” (99). 

For a majority of the novel there is a debate between two schools of thought. On the one hand, there is the thought of Mary and the Ministry for the Future who believe that the best way to solve climate change is to seek change through the system. On the other hand, there is Frank and the Children of Kali, who believe that going outside of the system and taking a more violent approach is the only course of action that will save humanity at its current point. Mary and Frank having the names that they do allow us to distinguish between two of the main perspectives both in the novel and in the world around us. I think it is also significant that, although Frank promotes violences as a morally acceptable tactic for dealing with climate change, he is still given a somewhat sympathetic name. Robinson did not choose to give Frank a malicious name such as Lucifer. This gives a nod to Robinson’s sympathy toward Frank and his purposes. He isn’t characterized as evil, he is simply characterized as tired and “frank” – blunt and to the point. 

As Frank and Mary continue to interact, Mary becomes more sympathetic to the radicalist cause and Frank’s bluntness and urgency. Until her introduction to Frank, Mary is a calm woman who would never consider violence to be an adequate means for dealing with the daunting challenge at hand. Though after Frank holds her hostage and begs that she take more decisive and violent action, Mary becomes more open to the thought of utilizing violence. She remains up-to-speed on the actions of the ministry’s black wing and becomes more sympathetic to why Frank and others like him feel the way that they do. “She pondered for a moment simply shouting suddenly in their faces…or throwing a chair through the picture window and letting the storm pour in over them. Sudden fury at their mulishness: Fuck your inflation rates! she wanted to shout” (293). 

    Mary continues to meet with Frank even after he kidnapped her, having been moved by what he told her when he kidnapped her. Eventually, they develop an interesting friendship and bond. As they do this, they share their perspectives together and while there is no official compromise, both individuals give in to the other’s ideas a bit more. Simultaneously, this occurs in the world around them. Mary remains with Frank until his death. Mary and Frank are the anchors of The Ministry for the Future. They provide a fictional guide between both perspectives and how they both interact to tackle such a complex and big issue. As they both sympathize with one another and create good impacts on each other’s lives, we are invited to imagine a world in which the two perspectives could blend together in a similar manner.