The Triumph of the Human Spirit

The Triumph of The Human Spirit

The triumph of the human spirit is a triumph that many people try to accomplish throughout their lifetime. The novel, The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold is a wonderful example of the triumph of human spirit because the main family has to go through a terrible tragedy and still, at the end of the novel they come to accomplish a triumph of the human spirit. First off, before Susie died, when the family would play Monopoly, Susie would always play with the boot and Buckley kept this game piece with him to remember her by. Secondly, Susie`s room is a place where her family always goes to remember her and escape from the terrible reality of her death. Last off, the Salmon family always kept on their porch light for the first eight months after Susie's death in a last attempt at hope. Overall, the author, Alice Sebold, shows the reader about the journey to get to the triumph by emphasizing the emotional struggles and mental challenges many people have to overcome during their lifetime.

To start, Susie's memory is preserved in Buckley's mind by keeping her favorite game piece. Buckley portrays the theme of innocence because he doesn't realize the magnitude of her murder but he understands that she will never be coming home so he wants to keep a piece of her close to him at all times: "Where's Susie?" Buckley asked as my father Fluffernutter on wheat bread (Sebold 62). When Buckley asked this question, his father, Jack Salmon distracts him by asking him if he wants to go the zoo. Jack wants to keep Buckley's innocence as long as possible so he doesn't want him to know about the terrible death of Susie. He prefers that Buckley thinks that she is just not coming back instead of thinking that she was murdered. A picture that would portray innocence would be one of two young girls walking down a wooded area holding hands. The next point in Buckley's innocence is the fact that he kept Susie's shoe from Monopoly when he realized that she wasn't coming back home. This can portray Innocence because Buckley doesn't realize how terrible Susie's death was. He just wants to keep a part of her close to him. He knows that she has gone away but he doesn't understand the enormity of the death. When the Salmon's gather around their table to play Monopoly, Buckley remembers that Susie would always play with the shoe: "I saved the Monopoly shoe and then it was gone. You took it. You act like she was only yours!" (Sebold, 60) Buckley knows that Susie isn't coming back, and he wants to keep something that he associated with her close to him. A picture that would portray this would be a picture of the shoe that is in the Monopoly game. Overall, Buckley's innocence portrays some triumph of the human spirit because without this innocence, he may have not been able to cope with the extremities of the family's suffering.

Secondly, Susie's room was a place where her family would go to remember her when they were feeling lost and lonely. This could be the theme of guidance because all of her family members went into her room when they were feeling lost: "I've forgotten what she looked like," Lindsay said (Sebold 107). When Lindsay's grandmother came to Susie's funeral, Lindsay went into Susie's room to find something to wear. She was suddenly aware that she had forgotten what Susie looked like. Without realizing it, Lindsay had come to Susie's room because she had forgotten about her and she wanted