Sexual Assault In Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones

In the book “The Lovely Bones”, Alice Sebold talks about how sexual assault can affect the family of the victim. This lead to the conclusion of that there are many ways to deal with grief. Susie’s father wanted justice for her death and turned craze looking for the killer. Susie also changed when Mr.Harvey raped and killed her. She came to understand that life will move on, with the people in it. Susie’s brother, Buckley, was affected later on by Susie’s death. When he understood that Susie was dead and what his parents did when they found out, he felt hatred for his parents, not Susie herself.

When Susie’s father found out that that Susie was murdered, he felt mixed emotions. He felt a sense of sadness and anger at the situation. It states

She came to understand the reasoning and became more mature. She realises that her family should be able to live without her. When Susie watched her family after she died, she realized that even though they missed her and suffered, they soon moved on and continued living there lives. Instead of wanting revenge on Mr.Harvey for raping and killing her, she wanted to stop him from harming other women. She thinks in a older women’s way. For example, it states in the text, “ I was watching a beg for leniency on my mother’s part. My mother was physically moving through time to flee from me. I could not hold her back… I knew what was happening. Her rage, her loss, her despair. The whole life lost tumbling out in an arc on that roof.(pg 152)” when Susie explains these feelings that her mother has, you don’t think of her as a 15 year old girl but more of a adult who knows and has experienced these feelings. She understands the reasoning of why her mother did what she did. She explains it as if she knows what her mother thinks. Another example that shows that Susie has matured is in page 320. It states, “theses were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections that happened after I was gone. And I became to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it… the price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life.” what Susie realized is that the connections between her family and friends

He was a little boy when Susie died but he understood what happened after. He wasn 't sad about Susie’s death herself but more of his parents. He was sick of seeing them through grief and how they changed. It states in page 256, “‘You have to choose. It’s not fair,’ my brother said… ‘i’m tired of it!’ Buckley blared. ‘Keesha’s dad died and she’s okay!’... ‘that’s not the point, Dad! You don’t get it.’ Buckley turned around on his heel and started stomping the tender tomato shoots with his foot.” Buckley didn’t understand why his father was still sad. He tried gaining his attention but Buckley realizes that his father is still hung about Susie’s death. In that moment all he wanted was his father’s attention but he couldn’t have it technically because of Susie. He also was mad at his mom, Abigail. In page 268 it states, “‘Fuck you,’ my brother whispered without looking up. My mother froze. The car opened up. Full of hate and tension...he glared over the front seat, boring his fury into her… but no amount of tears will sway Buckley. He had been keeping, daily, weekly, yearly, an underground storage room of hate.” this page explains how angry Buckley is. Not only with his father but his mother as well. It may not seem like it but Buckley was also struggling. He felt a sense of isolation. According to the website,Feelings after sexual assault. Instead of being a victim of sexual assault, Buckley can be explained like that. He doesn’t