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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Winter’s Bone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Silence and Secrets
Family, Destiny, and Inheritance
Violence and Decay
Isolation and Independence
Women and Matriarchy
Summary
Analysis
Ree, back at home, falls asleep while listening to one of her nature tapes. She is awakened by the sound of the knock at the front door. Ree goes to answer it, and finds Gail on the porch. Gail’s husband, angry with her for staying out so late at night, has refused to allow her to come home at all; he’s kept Ned at their trailer and sent Gail out into the night. Ree welcomes Gail inside, and the girls sit together by the fire.
After a stressful night, Ree is briefly transported elsewhere with the help of her tapes; she is brought back to harsh reality, though, by Gail’s reappearance. Gail’s husband’s rejection of her independent behavior speaks to the cyclical subjugation of individuals’ independent will—especially women’s independent will.
Themes
