Essay Draft 1

Kristen Grimmett

March 25, 2012

English 102

Ms. Cline

Literary Analysis of Daniel Woodrell's “Winter’s Bone”

In “Winter’s Bone”, Daniel Woodrell tells a story of a difficult time for a young girl in a run-down country town. She is faced with many hardships while trying to take care of her family and provide them with a home to live in, all without the help of her father. Woodrell describes his characters with raw depictions of how people think and behave in the Ozark Mountains. Ree Dolly has grown up in the harsh and corrupt poverty of the Ozarks and learns many things about the Dolly clan as she travels through this journey. Woodrell uses this raw and compelling writing style to depict how one must raise up and be strong to overcome hardships in life. By telling Ree’s story, he encourages readers to step up and do better and become more than those before you.

Ree Dolly, the lead character, is a strong willed and strong minded young girl who has the responsibility of taking care of her sick mother and two baby brothers, Sonny and Harold. She is stubborn and makes her own decisions, a true country girl. She can shoot a gut and fight like a man. Her father Jessup, out on bond and known for cooking crystal meth or “crank”, has left her, once again, to deal with taking care of a sick mother and two young boys.. They live in an old run-down home out in the country, far from real civilization.  Ree is faced with the huge burden, after finding out that her father has put the home and everything they own up for his bail. If he doesn't show up for his court date, Ree, her mother and her young brothers will be forced to evict the home.

Once Ree learns of this, she takes it upon herself to find her father, dead or alive. She goes through many hardships through the first half of the book, and everything keeps getting more difficult as the chapters go on. After multiple attempts, Ree still has not found her father. However, something weird is being whispered around. Ree now feels that her father is dead. With all these horrible things happening, she doesn't even have time to feel the true emotions. For she is, once again, being held responsible. She must prove her father's death to keep the home for her and her family. Now Ree has gotten in over her head as she heads to the most feared man around, Thump Milton, for answers. Upon arriving to Thump Milton’s home, she is told to leave and not come back. She waits outside. Little did she know more trouble was heading her way.

 In the end, Ree is jumped by a few of the sisters in the area. She was hurt very bad, she probably would have died, if it weren’t for her uncle. Uncle Teardrop was a crank addicted, loud mouthed, rugged man. He came in to save Ree’s life. Ree stays at home healing for a while. Eventually the same sisters that jumped Ree and beat her til the brink of death, showed up at Ree’s doorstep. They told her they were taking her to her father’s body. Jessup had been murdered and strapped to an engine block and sunk in the lake a fair distance away. The sisters then helped Ree cut off her own fathers hand to take as evidence. Ree could use them to prove that her father was in fact dead, and therefore could not possibly show up for his court date, allowing Ree and her family to keep their home. In the end, they receive a lump sum of money that was coming to Jessup. It is at this time that Ree makes the decision to stay behind and take care of her family; instead of leaving and never returning, as she had previously wanted so passionately before.

Ree has always wanted best for her brothers Sonny and Harold. “Ree’s grand hope was that these boys would not be dead to wonder by age twelve, dulled to life, empty of kindness, boiling with mean.”(1) She wanted the boys to do better than what had been around them their whole lives. The Dolly clan was not known for graduating with honors, doing good deeds or running for Mayor. They were criminals and secretive. Woodrell described a society that had the idea or kill or be killed. They did not believe in asking questions or talking to anyone about anything. Ree had a tough time dealing with her own father saying things he shouldn’t have. “What I really, really can’t stand… is… is how I feel so shamed… for Dad. Snitchin’ just goes against everything.” (2) Woodrell shows in this passage, that even with her father being murdered, Ree is still upset with her father for telling the truth of what was going on in the corrupt drug dealing clan. He wanted to show how tough and rugged the Ozarks were.

Woodrell also does an outstanding job presenting the scenery of the Ozark country. Although most have never been there, after reading this story, you will be able to have a realistic visual of how harsh the surroundings were. “Keening blue wind was bringing weather back into the sky, dark clouds gathering at the edge of sight, carrying frosty wet for later.” (3) The winter brought cold and despair to Ree’s already troubled life.

“Crank”, or crystal meth, was the drug that seemed to drive Ree’s town. If people weren’t doing it they were selling it, or both. Uncle Teardrop on more than one occasion is described running wild while on this dangerous drug. He even puts Ree, himself and Office Baskin in danger when he is high and gets pulled over. “Ree watched Teardrop’s hand close around the riffle and she felt somehow instantly all sweaty on her insides…Sounds like signed laughter burst from Teardrop, and he jerked the riffle onto his lap, curled his trigger finger.” (4) Luckily, Teardrop drove away before things got worse.

Woodrell uses meth as the drug that destroys this town to show how it is taking over communities across Rural-America. In another novel involving meth, Methland by Nick Reding, in the small town of Oelwein, Iowa, a farm crisis has ruined the towns economy and created a huge loss in work and jobs. Due to being so readily easy to make, crystal meth becomes a huge business for all. The town is going farther and farther down, when the town doctor, mayor and prosecutor step up to fight back. (5) There are many similarities in the two books. Both have good people being corrupted by the harsh and life changing, for the worse, drug meth. This story is not fictional. These authors are telling stories that are truly happening across America.

The author's writing style was rough and explicit. Although a little bold in word choice, I feel the Woodrell did a great job describing his characters. It was true and raw. Each character has a past and it was explained. Woodrell wrote in such a way, as to make me feel as though I was living this depressing reality. It was an emotional roller coaster and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Works Cited

(1) Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell, 2006, Page 8.

(2) Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell, 2006, Page 149.

(3) Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell, 2006,

(4) Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell, 2006, 173.

(5)  http://www.methlandbook.com/, Nick Reding, 2011.