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.
I agree that the Dolly’s and the surrounding community are indeed entrenched in a patriarchal system, but within this system I see women as the true motivators of change. Ree, as you have shown, is the most obvious example of this. She needs to find her father to save her family, so, in patriarchal terms, she becomes the “man of the house.” While you explain Victoria as complacent in Ree’s visit to her and Teardrop’s place and only offering a joint, she also convinces Teardrop to give Ree some much needed money (Woodrell 27). Ree then goes on to use this money to get groceries for her, her mom, and her brothers. Before her visit to Thump Milton’s, Ree meets Megan in Hawkfell, who helps her track down Little Arthur to see if she can shake up any information about Jessup (Woodrell 52). Afterwards, when Little Arthur does not know anything, Megan tells her how to get to Thump Milton’s and offers her advice about how this system works with their family. Once she gets to Thump Milton’s, her knock on the door is answered by Merab. While Merab appears to be Milton’s mouthpiece at this moment, she and her sisters are the ones who actually take Ree to get what she needs—proof that her father is dead. Merab says, “[w]e’ll carry you to your daddy’s bones, child. We know the place” (Woodrell 180). These women and more all exist and operate within what appears to be a traditional patriarchal society, but end up having more voice than what would be expected at first glance.
ReplyDeleteI like the overall point you make in your post, but I agree with Ainsley’s assertion about the implicit power held by the women within Ree’s community. It made me think about a comment made by the author and how that relates to the agency and power of the women in the book. When reading one of the addendum sections in the back of the novel, I noticed that Woodrell is quoted as saying that in the title “Winter’s Bone,” the word “bone” refers to “giving someone a bone,” giving them a break or cutting some slack. Woodrell states that “it is winter itself” (Woodrell, Reading Group Guide, 3) throwing Ree a bone, but as mentioned in Ainsley’s post, when Merab and her sisters offer to take Ree to her father’s burial place, they say “We’ll carry you to your daddy’s bones, child. We know the place” (Woodrell 180). In this sense I think It is also Merab and her sisters, bulwarks in the community as they operate adjacent to Thump Milton, who throw Ree the bone she needs to save her family and home. Within this short example I think lies clear evidence that women in the community wield much more implicit, informal power than is attributed to them by their patriarchal culture. In this very conservative society, there are rigid hierarchies of gender roles, interpersonal communication, and clan/kin-related boundaries. Even as women are relegated to a “lesser,” more submissive role on the surface, it is mostly women who interact with Ree in a protective or corrective way as she pushes the boundaries of their social norms. Victoria, Megan, Sonya, Gail, and even Merab and her sisters – for all the harm they do Ree – exhibit clear agency within their community even as they have to operate within the confines of their culture.
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