In Savage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward places considerable emphasis on the growth and change within Esch -- whether it's the multiple descriptions of Esch's pregnant belly or how she sees herself as a fighter who breaks the stereotypical male-female dynamic by becoming the strongest and most mature part of her affair with Manny. This focus is interesting because its growth is in almost all cases directly related to China. Particularly in the case of Esch's journey to womanhood. In this essay, I will show that China's role in the novel is to be a direct guiding presence for Esch. Through the many paradoxes of Chinese life, Esch is able to relate and learn. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay We first see evidence of China's direct impact on Esch's life in the very first page of the novel. As China gives birth to her puppies, Esch immediately makes the connection with the death of her mother. Esch's mother gave birth to all four of her children in their Mississippi home, like China and Esch, her mother is described as a fighter. His mother was determined not to go to the hospital even though she hemorrhaged after Junior's birth, and as China gives birth in the same "pit", Esch relates to China while connecting China to his mother. Esch tells the reader how when she was a child, her father often compared her to her mother, describing them both as "fighters" (Ward, 2) and later, Esch referred to China as a fighter during that she was enduring childbirth. Being the only other woman after her mother's death, it is easy for Esch to allow China to emotionally fill a maternal role in her life. As if fighting were an inherited trait, Esch gives the impression that fighting is a family tradition and while his mother has it, as well as China, Esch sees them as one and the same. This notion is illustrated when Esch personifies China at his birth. . Esch takes note of how Skeetah gives feminine traits to China, especially when it comes to needing help. As she prepared for the Juniors' birth, Esch remembers that she and her father were "no help, even though Dad said Mom told him she didn't need any help." help” (Ward, 1-2). It's just like Skeetah dragging China into childbirth, as the husband would do it, not only focusing on her "as a man focuses on a woman when he feels she is his, what is China" (Ward, 3), but also like Skeetah telling Esch that China "doesn't need any help to grow" (Ward, 4) In this way, China becomes the equivalent of Esch's mother, and Esch relates directly to her maternal spirit through China. It is at this point that Esch begins to realize that she can learn from, compare to, or take similar actions to China, as she would by following in her own mother's footsteps. In chapter two we see a detailed description of China guiding Esch toward the delights of pregnancy. The chapter begins with Esch being led into a shed that contains China and her puppies, they are nursing from her, and Skeetah calls them miracles. It's one of the joys that comes with motherhood, and almost immediately followed by Esch's memory of looking for eggs with her mother. This is one of the ways Ward connects China's actions to Esch's mother so that Esch can discover something new about herself.Esch searching for chicken eggs in her garden becomes a symbol of the confusion she feels for her body and for her unborn child, whom she does not yet know. By allowing Esch to see the "miracles" of China (Ward, 21) just before the memory of her mother helping her find eggs, Ward implies that since she no longer has a mother and that she longs for his mother, China is something to accomplish this goal. absence. At the end of the chapter, Esch learns of her pregnancy and instead of thinking of ways to solve the problem or hide it, Esch accepts the fact that for the first time there is something or someone inside her. With China just having children of her own, and because she sees parts of her mother in China, Esch uses China as a guide in her own exploration of motherhood. Another direct correlation where China guides Esch at any given time in his life concerns illness and health. In chapter three, Esch says that she is "sick from the moment I open my eyes" (Ward, 37), just before the reader learns that China refuses to allow its puppies to nurse, because she is sick. It was Esch who put forward the idea that China doesn't want its babies to catch the virus, and this is one of many pieces of evidence that Esch is making female connections to China. Esch learns that being a mother is going to be difficult and that she must do things that may hurt her but are for her children. Esch not only had to struggle to keep her food down, but also endure vomiting due to the smells she is accustomed to. China also shows solidarity in this chapter by going after Skeetah. Skeetah tried to nurse her puppies, which resulted in their deaths. China shows that a mother should be a mother regardless of circumstances. This is applied when Esch is rejected by Manny at the pond. Esch imagines that she is a fetus in a mother's womb, trying to sink deeper. This can be compared to outside China after refusing your puppy food. Esch described her as “eyelids drooping and suddenly she looks tired. She is a tired goddess” (Ward, 40). After the pond scene, Esch realizes that she may have to be a single mother, just like China, and that it will cost her dearly. China and Esch seem to want to escape and take a break from the suffering of motherhood. But, like China putting on a brave face and allowing the rest of her puppies to "pull at her swollen chest" (Quarter, 40), Esch comes to the surface knowing that she cannot hide and that she must to be a mother, whatever your situation. Further evidence of China's direct impact on Esch's life concerns her rebellion against motherhood. In chapter five, Esch remembers hearing girls at her school list ways to force a miscarriage and considered the option of "throwing herself on something hard and metal" (Ward 102). Esch thinks she might be able to find something to jump on, like the hood of a dump truck or a washing machine rotting in the yard. (Ward 102) Following these thoughts, the next chapter brings the death of a puppy. China attacks one of her puppies and bites its neck until the puppy is mutilated. This scene parallels the mutilation of Esch's father's fingers, and as Ward describes the blood on the "pulpy puppy in China's mouth" (Ward, 129) and "the flesh of his fingers" being "red and wet as the lips of China” (Ward, 130), the scene must be symbolic if we decide to throw ourselves against the truck. But, as Esch notes, hearing Skeetah start to moan, “Why did you do it?” the symbolism is confirmed. Turning once again to China for guidance, Esch again personifies.