Cody Ofisa
English 102
Mrs. Cline
25 March 2012
Winter’s Bone
The book Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell was a very interesting and intense book. The motif that most stuck out to me was that the people of Ozark were rough neck backwoods type of people who came off hard and selfish but they were quick to help the defenseless. I believe the purpose of Winter’s Bone was to show the world that the poor, uneducated, and backwoods people are not what we stereotype them to be. They have compassion and love just as the upper class people do they just have a different way of showing it. Sixteen year old Ree had to face harsh reality of adulthood and take care of her siblings because her father was a crank dealer and her mother was mentally ill. This book reveals a harsh reality of children who suffer from having a drug addicted parent.
At the age of sixteen most of us are excited about getting our driver’s license and having more freedom away from our parents. We are looking for cheap cars and matching décor for our cars. We have plans that were made years before with our friends of the road trips we want to take and the places we wish to see. Life is bliss and easy. With little responsibility and we too often take advantage of our easy go lucky lives. As for sixteen year old Ree Dolly this was not the case. She was on a man hunt to find her father who had been out on bail and his court date was soon approaching. An officer had informed Ree that her father had put their house up as collateral and were in jeopardy of losing their home. Woodrell writes, “Why I’m here is, his court date is next week and I can’t seem to turn him up. Ree replies ‘Maybe he sees you comin and ducks.’ Deputy Baskin then states ‘Maybe he does. That could be. But where you all come into this, he put this house, here, and those timber acres up for his bond. ”(pg. 14) With her dreams of being in the U.S. Army put on the back burner, she puts herself in dangerous territory as she searches throughout town at local drug dealer hang out spots in search of her father. Dan wrote a review on Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone at goodreads.com and stated “Ree’s quest for her father is an odyssey into a world of cooking meth, living in shacks or trailers, and eating whatever you can shoot. The backwoods life isn’t pretty and Woodrell shows it warts and all.” (gooodreads)
Director Debra Granik depicts in the movie Winter’s Bone just what you picture when reading the book. Ree and her family live in the back country of the Ozarks in a shack like home, scarce on food for themselves and as well as their animals. Their clothing is tattered and grungy as well as their appearance. Ree and her siblings are not well kept and have no source of transportation other than their own two feet. By the looks of the other children at school and the scenery of the town it is obvious that the area is a poorer area. In an interview with Debra Granik she explains in detail how they made the book come to life in film. She states “Getting things right happened because the people in the community opened their pastures and ponds and backyards and homes. They left the details in place, from ornaments on the fridge to the objects on the kitchen table.” (npr..org) Granik also stated “ We took these new garments, the majority being carhartt jackets, and exchanged them for ones that had been hugely lived in. The coats frays reflected on the person’s work life, and the tears and stresses on the collar were related to the years worn.” (npr.org) The help of the town really brought to life the story. Using real homes and real Ozark residence gave the audience the imagery they wanted when reading the book. Ree seemed to be unhappy and looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was not proper or “lady like” and was forced to be bold and daring. To see the troubles and stress she faced in the book on the big screen really did put the situation into perspective. It also brought to life the lives of children in our country that suffer from these issues on a day to day basis. It was a harsh reality of a look into the drug world and small towns with little to do and little means to provide for their people.
Daniel Woodrell depicts the life of drugs and its affect on children well. Perhaps this is because he himself had an issue with drugs that led to his discharge in the Marines. Woodrell states in an interview with The Independent newspaper, “I liked my fellow marines. I didn’t like pointless orders. After 18 months I got into some drug trouble and they discharged me. ‘Pronounced antisocial tendencies.’ I thought at the height of Vietnam to be labeled antisocial by the marine corps was kind of interesting.” ( The Independent newspaper)
With Woodrell and his wife and kids living in the town described in the book, it makes for easy writing because he is saturated in the environment. His personal experience with drug use as well as his personal experience in Ozark has helped him to bring his reality to life not only in a story but also on the big screen. Reading a story, even if it is fictional, that hits close to home for author never fails for a good story. This book is riveting and jaw dropping. He hit the nail on the head when describing life for Ree and her siblings. A child’s life overtaken and corrupted by drugs has become an epidemic in our society. Woodrell has taken the initiative to expose it for others to see and gain awareness.
Drug abuse has serious affects on the children who are exposed to it by their parents. According to about.com “Children in homes where methamphetamine abuse as overtaken their parents are traumatized by the experience, many times left alone and hungry for days at a time, abused, forced to high themselves, asked to steal and lie to authorities by the hyper and delusion adults in their lives.” (about.com) The danger of this drug is obvious, and when a child is exposed to such a traumatic lifestyle they have difficulty making sense of life and their surroundings. Woodrell portrays Ree perfectly in the book Winter’s Bone as a child victim to a drug addict parent. Her father is in and out of jail and chooses to cook meth rather than working a normal nine to five job to provide for his family. He has selfishly put Ree, her mother, and two younger brothers in jeopardy of losing their home and timber land. This has forced Ree to put herself in danger and her life on hold to provide for his family and salvage what is left of their home. This is sadly reality for many children.
Although Winter’s Bone is a fictional book, it has very non-fiction issues discussed throughout the story. As Woodrell describes the issues Ree and her family faces, we all can relate someone we may know or have heard of to her. The difficult life children are faced with when having a drug addict parent is something no one, especially an innocent child, should have to deal with or even have knowledge about. This drug is lethal and overtakes people’s lives. Families are destroyed and innocence is lost. Daniel Woodrell brought the harsh reality of drug use onto pages for all to read. Where Ree Dolly and her siblings are just fictional characters, children throughout America face their same struggles. Children grow up too quickly and have to learn to fend for themselves because their parents have selfishly abandoned them to get their drug fix.
Work Cited
Woodrell, Daniel. Winter’s Bone. New York: Back Bay Books, 2006. Print
“Daniel Woodrell: The Ozark daredevil.” The Independent. June 16, 2006. Retrieved on March 25, 2012
NPR Staff. “Winter’s Bone director re-creates life in the Ozarks.” June 11, 2010. Retrieved on March 25, 2012.
T., Buddy “A Child Eyes View of Meth Use.” June 29, 2006. Retrieved on March 25, 2012.
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