For my text I decided to immerse myself in Daniel Woodrell’s novel, Winter’s Bone. Winter’s Bone follows Ree Dolly’s quest to try and find her father, Jessup, before it's too late. Although the mission initially appears simplistic, Ree’s search begins to unravel the hunger, corruption, and filth that plagues her community. The action begins when Ree Dolly, a sixteen year-old girl who takes care of her mentally absent mother and two younger brothers, learns that her father has vanished. Recently out of prison, Jessup had used their home as well as their lands to secure his bail. A conversation with the local deputy reveals that if Jessup does not appear at his court date in a week, Ree and her family will lose the house- thus beginning Ree’s search for her father. Ree visits the isolated town of Hawkfall in search for answers, a search that leads her to the menacing household of Mr. and Mrs. Thump. Their reticence about Jessup leads Ree to believe her…show more content… Ree, as well as the rest of her Dolly kin, has a fundamental relationship with nature in the book. The significance of the Ozarks extends beyond their function of land to live on. The mountainous landscape has shaped a way of life for the Dolly family. The environment brings the Dolly clans together even as the distinct valleys serve to mark differences between them. As Ree notes, the different valleys have different birdsong, illustrating how nature often mirrors the people characteristics within the novel. It becomes clear that Ree, in particular, finds nature cleansing. In one section, she notes that, “At school teachers said don’t do that anymore, stuff has leaked to the heart of the earth and maybe soured even the deepest deep springs, but plenty of old ones crouched and sipped from the ladle yet” (158). Ree believes in the essential purity of nature, and she often seeks sanctuary in nature from the corrupting influence of her
