Challenging Conventions: C Period

       This depiction of Medea by an unknown artist shows her at the height of her jealousy, plotting the death of Jason's wife. She is shown as a scorned woman, filled with anger and hatred. She wears jewels because according to her social status, she theoretically should live a comfortable and luxurious life. The background is blue to demonstrate the sad, depressing world she lives in. This photo by an unknown artist represents Esch by the end of the book because she has the strength to pick herself up (and her dress) and walk through the water instead of letting herself float away. By the end of the novel, Esch has the strength and self confidence to face her challenges instead of running away from them or letting them consume her, much like the water could have.

This artistic rendition of the myth of the Golden, painted by Nona Hyyiten in 2008, depicts the three central characters to the legend: Jason, and his assumed wife-to-be, the daughter of the king of Corinth, reflecting in a glass held by Medea. Hyyiten intentionally added a yellow coloring to the painting to create a self-ascribed "True Crime feel". From Hyyiten's perspective, Medea is " one of the strongest and most fearful women in Greek mythology." The painting attempts to convey the situation that led her to unleashing that  strength.  This pencil drawing by Shen Long (2004) is actually a representation of Medea, with a snake sticking out of her mouth. I chose this image because it demonstrates the transformed person Esch is by the end of the novel–she identifies with a new part of Medea, the part that insults and brings destruction. Esch's Medea moment happens when she finally lashes out at Manny for using her, for rejecting her, and her wo...

Esch and Madea Jesmyn Ward draws many connections between Esch and Medea, but the one that stuck out to me the most was in Chapter 10, on page 205 when Esch tells Manny that the baby is his. Manny completely denies it and this sets off Esch which causes her to lash out at him. ""I loved you!" This is Medea wielding the knife. This is Medea cutting. I rake my fingernails across his face, leave pink scratches that turn red, fill with blood." I think that this mythological allusion is important at the point in the text because it's a very intense moment for Esch. She's telling the boy that she allegedly "loves" (I am only saying allegedly because I think that she loves the idea of being loved - although that sounds cliche - and loving someone back, but that is something for another blog post) that he is the father of her baby and him denying it just sparks something powerful inside of her that makes her react in the way that she did. Although, you c...

" In ancient Greece, for all her heroes, for Medea and her mutilated brother and devastated father, water meant death. In the bathroom on the toilet, I heard the clanking of metal against metal outside, some broken machine tilting like a sinking headstone against another, and I knew it was the wind pushing a heavy rain." (pg. 216)     Jesmyn Ward draws many connections between Esch and Medea, one of them being water as a motif for fatality. For Medea, water in the form of seas and rivers was what caused her demise. However, for Esch, water represents impending fate. As she and her family prepare to survive hurricane Katrina, the symbol of the water rising is used to show their impending fate and their uncertainty of the outcome, much less survival. To Esch, the rising water is threatening to take everything away from her, even her family - much like how the water impacted Medea's family.

This is a painting of Medea by Anthony Frederick in 1866. She is making the potion that she gave Jason to protect himself. It was rejected from being on exhibition at the royal academy and that caused a lots of protest. The picture also shows Medea in a trance of love for Jason. This bolt of lightning resembles Esch at the end of the novel because it is by itself yet fierce and mighty and powerful. It is also complex with many different motions just like Esch is becoming at the end of the novel.

Quote: “‘I love you!’ ‘Esch!’ The skin on his throat is red, his scar white. ‘I loved you!’ I hit his Adam’s apple with the V where my thumb and pointer finger cross. He chokes. ‘I loved you!’ This is Medea wielding the knife. This is Medea cutting. I rake my fingernails across his face, leave pink scratches that turn red, fill with blood.” (Ward pg. 204) This happens near the end of Salvage the Bones as the facets of the story are resolving themselves. Esch opens up to Manny about her pregnancy and her feelings for him. She is getting her revenge on Manny by harming him, just as Medea got her revenge on Jason by killing his wife. Esch is trying to end her and Manny’s relationship with herself on top, the winner. She wants Manny to walk away feeling as though he is a lesser person and that Esch is stronger. The mythical Medea was in love with Jason and did many things to help him including murdering her own father and brother and leaving her home country. Esch does not pay attentio...

"Manny kneels next to Rico, whispers. I know that whatever Manny is saying is showing the Meanness in him, that he is Jason betraying Medea and asking for the hand of the daughter of the king of Corinth in marriage after Medea has killed her brother for him, betrayed her father. Manny's mouth moves and  I read She ain't shit, ain't got no heart. He looks at China when he murmurs, but it feels like he looks at me."(Ward 172) This instance of Greek Mythology comes at a pivotal point in the novel Salvage the Bones. Before this, Esch came to support Skeetah and China in China's most important fight yet, where she sees Manny(her "lover").  This point in the book marks a change in Esch's perspective on who Manny really is. In the earlier sections of the novel, our main character sees Manny as her Jason, seemingly perfect and flawless. This is not the case, as Manny is incredibly flawed(shown through his actions) but Esch chooses to overlook them and ...

    Esch makes many references to Medea and Jason's relationship when referring to her situation with Manny. Manny plays a large role in Esch's life. He is unknowingly the father of her child and seems to be the love of her life. Unfortunately for Esch, Manny has a girlfriend, one who is described to be "skinny, light skinned, and crazy" (Ward 56) . Esch feels possessive over Manny even though he was never her boyfriend, "I loved him before that girl. I imagine this is the way Medea felt about Jason when she fell in love, when she knew him; that she looked at him and felt fire eating up through her rib cage, turning her blood to boil, evaporating hotly out of every inch of her skin" (Ward 56). This quote demonstrates both of these woman feelings towards love and how it basically tore each of them apart.      Esch loves Manny full heartedly and he does not even realize how she feels. This rejection must have driven her to insanity, which lead to th...

At this point in the novel, Esch has told Manny that she is pregnant and that it is his baby, in which he responds with denial and shakes off the information that she has just given to him as if it wasn't important or it was her problem, following this Esch attacks Manny when she states, "I love you!' 'Esch!' The skin on his throat is red, his scar white. 'I loved you!' I hit his Adam's apple with the V where my thumb and pointer finger cross. He chokes. 'I loved you!' This is Medea wielding the knife. This is Medea cutting. I rake my fingernails across his face, leave pink scratches that turn red, fill with blood."(Ward, 204) By Esch both making this attack on Manny and making a clear statement that this is "Medea wielding the knife," this allusion is showing that these two specific women feel as if they need to be with the men they love, and when these men try and walk out of their lives as if they were never there, the women do...

In the novel, Salvage The Bones, Esch lives within a small impoverished town where education is almost foreign. Fueled by her kindred relationship to the Greek goddess, Medea, Esch falls in love with Greek mythology. A particular part of Medea's story that Esch relates to is Medea's dissociated love with Jason, "In Mythology, I am still reading about Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is someone that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invincible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her." (Ward 38). Despite being disastrous, Esch connects the relationship between her and Manny to that of Medea and Jason--foreshadowing the end of their relationship. Esch initially falls deeply in love with M...

"I love you!" "Esch!" The skin on his throat is red, his scar white. "I loved you!" I hit his Adam's apple with the V where my thumb and pointer finger cross...." (p.204) * really long irrelevant intro*  From the ancient writings in religious texts telling stories of affection strong enough to cause a man to live his life in subservience to others, only to die willingly by their hand on a cross, to legends passed down from the tongues of mothers to daughters warning about the curses that befall women who love the wrong men, to today’s inescapable, globally recognized genres–the rom-com, the chick flick, the coming-of-age drama alike–love, in its many forms and power, serves as a persistent, prevailing theme in stories about the human condition. In the 2011 novel by esteemed author Jesmyn Ward Salvage the Bones, Ward uses the transformational capacity of love as a tool to develop the protagonist of the story, Esch, and emphasizes this transfo...

Quote  " In  Mythology , I am still reading about Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is someone that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invincible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her." -Esch This quote is relatable to what is going on in Esch's life because it gives her hope for her love life and pregnancy. Also, she specifically says "I know her" as if she knows her because Medea reminds her of herself. I think the main reason she connects with Medea on a personal level is because she wishes she could have the 'supernatural power' or just power in general to fix her love life issues, but since Medea has that type of power and still can't fix her love life make...

"In Mythology, I am still reading about Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is someone that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by my throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invincible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her."(Ward 38) In this quote, Esch is comparing herself to Medea, and also Manny to Jason. In the myth of the golden fleece Medea helped Jason with her magic, because she loves him, but Jason does nothing but betray her. Esch feels connected to Medea because she gives Manny her love and her body but he does nothing in return. All he does is take, not give. To Esch, Medea is a symbol of what a women would do for a man, and maybe also an example of how man has authority over women, and can control them. To sum up, Esch sees hers...

Throughout the novel Esch references Medea and compares herself to her. Esch particularly relates to Medea's unrequited love for Jason,"In Mythology , I am still reading about Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is something that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invincible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her"(Ward 38). Medea and Jason's relationship reminds Esch of her own relationship with Manny. Esch, despite her mother being dead, is a very strong young woman, yet, just like Medea, she is still vulnerable to heartbreak. Medea resonates with Esch because she is an example of how strong individuals are still not invincible. Also, Esch acknowledges that Manny does not love her and is ...

     Throughout Salvage the Bones, Ward makes connections between Esch and Medea both implicitly and explicitly, seeing as Esch and Medea are very similar characters. Esch relates to the mythical woman and wishes to think of herself as a version of Medea. One point in the novel that I think perfectly encompasses this idea is a quote on page 38, "In Mythology , I am still reading about   Medea and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Here is something that I recognize. When Medea falls in love with Jason, it grabs me by the throat. I can see her. Medea sneaks Jason things to help him: ointments to make him invisible, secrets in rocks. She has magic, could bend the natural to the unnatural. But even with all her power, Jason bends her like a young pine in a hard wind; he makes her double in two. I know her." When Esch speaks of Medea and Jason in this quote, she is referring to her love with Manny. Esch sees herself as a powerful girl, but when she's near Manny, she shrink...

When Manny comes by Esch's home to tell Randall that Bodean has been chosen to be in the basketball camp instead of him, Esch sees an opportunity to reveal her feelings towards him.  She starts slapping him and yells, " 'I love you!' 'Esch!' The skin on his throat is red, his scar white.  'I loved you!' I hit his Adam's apple with the V where my thumb and pointer finger cross.  He chokes.  'I loved you!' This is Medea wielding the knife.  This is Medea cutting.  I rake my fingernails across his face, leave pink scratches that turn red, fill with blood." (Ward, 204) This allusion represents the willingness of both females to do anything to stay with the person they love.  Esch attacks Manny and blames her pregnancy on him, hoping he will change his mind and settle with her, as it is most likely his child.  On the other hand, Medea will violently kill anyone and do anything in general for Jason to obtain this fleece because that's his...

"I try to read the entire mythology book, but I can't. I am stuck in the middle... Medea kills her brother. In the beginning, she is known by her nephew, who tells the Argonauts about her, for having power, for helping her family, just like I tried to help Skeet on the day China first got sick from the Ivomec. But for Medea, love makes help turn wrong. The author says that there are a couple of versions of how it happened. Ones says she lies to her brother and invites him onto the ship with the Argonauts as they were fleeing, and that Jason ambushes him. That she watched her brother die, her own face on his being sliced open like a chicken: pink skin cut to bloody meat. The other version says that she kills her brother herself... I read it over and over again. It is like she is under the covers with me, both of us sweating to water. To get away from her, from the smell of Manny still on me a night and morning afterward. I get up." (Ward, 154) In this quote Esch is c...

Ward creates a connection between Medea and Esch on several cases. The main one however is where Esch realizes that Manny has been using her, like how Jason was using Medea. Medea and Esch both thought that who they loved, had the same feeling for them, however that was not true. Instead they tricked them into becoming a tool that they could use whenever they wanted. Jason would use Medea as a tool to get himself out of issues, while Manny would use Esch as a living sex toy. Jason and Manny took so much from Medea and Esch, only for their own self gain. In both cases it reveals a lot about the characters, showing the selfish personalty of Jason and Manny, and the selfless personalities of Medea and Esch, who just wanted to help people. This image portrays how Medea was used as a tool to help Jason get what he wanted and, how he didn't give back to her at all, just dragging her around to where he will need her next. At the end of the book Esch has had her home and the fantasy ...

I couldn't help posting this as well. It's the soundtrack Eddie Vedder did for the film version of Into the Wild . The soundtrack is pretty folksy/rootsy and features the mandolin (which I love!). If you're an Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam fan and don't know if it, take a listen. :) 

The fascinating documentary PBS released a few years ago about the McCandless family dysfunction...

DO NOT comment on this post. Instead, create your own NEW POST! Esch is reading Edith Hamilton’s Mythology for her summer reading, and she continually makes references to the story of Medea. After reading Hamilton’s telling of “The Golden Fleece” and poring through Ward’s novel, choose a moment in the novel when Ward draws a connection between Esch and Medea either implicitly or explicitly. Include the passage from the novel and explain why you think this mythological allusion is important at that point in the text. What does the allusion reveal about character, setting, central themes?  Find an artistic depiction of Jason and/or Medea and include it in your post, providing a description of what the piece is and who created it. Give as much information as you can.  Post another image in the post that you think best symbolizes Esch by the end of the novel and provide a description of why.