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 dresses Connie in a hat and a coat and leads her outside. They walk along a trail, and Ree remembers a time before her mother was ill, when they used to take such walks often. After a while, Ree and her mother sit on a tree stump for a rest. Ree pleads with her mother to help her decide what to do, but her mother is unresponsive. Ree pulls her mother to her feet, and they start the walk back to the house.
Ree, forced to assume Connie’s role in the family, turns now to her for guidance—but Connie is, as usual, unable to provide for Ree. This is another harsh reminder that Ree is almost entirely alone, and that no adult is going to swoop in and make things easier for her.