Guilt In The Lovely Bones

Expressions of Guilt in The Lovely Bones
Guilt is constantly felt throughout people, changing the way they act, feel, and live their lives. In The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, guilt has a negative effect on everyone, changing their thoughts and actions. However, guilt is suffered the most by the father, Jack Salmon, the mother, Abigail Salmon, and even the detective, Len Fenerman. As the story progresses, guilt is shown to be more powerful and damaging, affecting the emotions and mental health of some.
Jack Salmon, experiences guilt throughout the The Lovely Bones after feeling responsible for Susie’s death, and begins to show a mental decline from all the stress he feels. Jack feels guilty that he was unable to protect Susie and …show more content…
To start off, Abigail begins to feel the stress from her guilt affect her because she knows it is a parent’s responsibility to keep their children safe and she believes she failed as a parent. Throughout The Lovely Bones, as time went on, Abigail drifts apart from her family, ignoring responsibilities and her role as a parent, she talks less to her family and disregards her duties as a parent. To cope with the grief, Abigail has an affair with Len Fenerman to get her family off her mind. Even though Abigail is married and knows the affair is wrong, she goes on with it anyways. Abigail does not want to be in a family environment because it will bring more stress and guilt so she distances herself from Jack and closer to Len. After her absence in her family for many years, Abigail comes back and faces her role in her family, despite the guilt she feels. Abigail leaves to try and cope with the stress of Susie’s death and to forget her responsibilities. When she returns, she feels the guilt from many years ago when she promised Lindsey she would never leave as well as the pain Buckley suffered from not having a mother throughout the years as he grew up so much. Abigail does not yet understand the amount of stress she has placed on Jack. Guilt causes Abigail to act differently and think about her family in a different perspective. The stress gets to her and makes …show more content…
Len’s actions lead to guilt, slowing his work with all the responsibility on his shoulder. At the time Len figured out the killer, it is already too late and he suffers the guilt as it was his fault he got away. Being too busy making love to Abigail at the mall, Len knows that if he answered Jack’s call, Mr. Harvey would have already been caught and the murder case would have been closed and now lives with the realization and guilt that it is his fault the murderer got away. Knowing it was wrong, Len still has an affair with Abigail, fully knowing that she is married to Jack. Len clearly knows Jack and Abigail are married and that it was the wrong thing to do. He starts to feel guilty since he knows Abigail still has feelings for Jack. Unable to find Susie’s body, Len feels guilty since he has nothing but a Pennsylvania keystone after so many years. Len thought to himself about not being able to find the body or the killer, putting so much stress since even though he knows the killer, he still cannot end the case. Len has done bad things during the murder case, causing him to feel guilty. The stress from his guilt gets in the way of his work, preventing him from catching the killer and solving the case.
Guilt in The Lovely Bones is constantly shown to negatively impact the characters that are involved in Susie’s death. Stress causes some to feel like the whole situation is their fault and

Show More

The Lovely Bones Susie Salmon Character Analysis

The lovely Bones Essay

Essay about Protagonist: Grief and Mr. Harvey

Coraline Symbolism

Final Essay

Acceptance Of Senior Honors Thesis In A Healing Ministry