Bastard Out Of Carolina Chapter Summary

Sandra L. Bloom, author of “Trauma Theory Abbreviated” states, “...a coping skill that is useful for survival under conditions of traumatic stress can become a serious liability over time”. Unfortunately, these coping skills were not an option for Bone Boatwright. In Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina, Bone Boatwright is left with almost no coping strategies to help her through the traumatic events that she underwent as a child. In the novel, Bone experiences trauma through various social contexts. Most importantly, impoverishment directly affects Bone’s relationship with her family, friends, and herself. These tarnished relationships make her incapable of having external resources to cope with the excessive amounts of trauma she endures

Sandra Bloom defines psychological trauma as “...how the individual’s mind and body reacts in its own unique way to the traumatic experience in combination with the unique response of the individual's social group ” (2). The psychological trauma, in a social context, did not provide Bone with any resources for emotional support, but rather instigated an image of an “incomplete” social group. From the beginning of the book, readers can infer that the Boatwright family had little prestige in their small town. Infamously known for drinking excessively and getting into trouble with town officials, the Boatwrights are often looked down upon in Southern society. This reputation of the Boatwright family is constantly highlighted in the book. Throughout the text, Allison describes the hardships the Boatwrights faced from being poor. As Bone describes herself, “I was part of the trash down in the mud-stained cabins, fighting with the darkies and stealing ungratefully from our betters, stupid, coarse, born to shame and death” (Allison 206). As a child, Bone already had the mindset that she lived in the “trash” area of town, and her family needed the resources from “betters” in society. Her mind reacts to the

In “Trauma Theory Abbreviated,” Bloom explains, “...if a person is subjected to a sufficient number of experiences teaching him or her that nothing they do will affect the outcome, people give up trying” (Bloom 4). Glen forcing Bone to move from place to place is yet another thing that she does not have control over. As Bone describes this never ending migration, she says, “We moved and then moved again. We lived in no one house more than eight months” (64). By moving from house to house, this leaves Bone devoid of a sense of where she comes from. Bone’s helplessness in this situation eventually comes to a point in which she ends up creating a new identity for herself at a new school; by creating a new name and birthplace. Bone explains, “Everyone believed me, and I enjoyed a brief popularity as someone from a big city who could tell big-city stories” (PAGE NUMBER). Due to the fact that Bone has absolutely no resources to help her cope with moving, this not only forces her to give up trying to rebel against the constant moving, but also her own identity. To regain control of something that she has lost, Bone creates a new identity to win back power for herself, even if it does not help the trauma she