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    The second purpose of including Ree’s retelling of Adam and Eve’s story stands to reinforce her Ozark community’s outdated and corrupt views, specifically about women.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.