Esch and Medea- Jenna

By:      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 shrinks back down into nothing. Esch, a strong girl, lets Manny walk all over her. Just like how Jason bends Medea like a young pine in a hard wind. When Esch says "I know her.", it is because Esch identifies herself as her.
       The quotation above was an explicit connection between Esch and Medea. One connection that is more implicit is gold. Medea is helping Jason hunt for the golden fleece, which is something that will help him get his throne back. Esch, on the other hand, is searching for her "golden" Manny. In multiple places throughout the novel, Esch refers to Manny as being golden. The connection that Esch and Medea are both searching for something golden is just another factor that connects them. According to color psychology, "Gold adds richness and warmth to everything with which it is associated- it illuminates and enhances other things around it." This is a perfect example of how Esch thinks Manny will affect her life if he was to have a relationship with her. This definition of gold could also be used for Medea. Once Jason retrieves the golden cloak, they can go to Greece and get married. The color gold would allow Medea to have a better life. Esch and Medea are two parallel characters in two completely different times and settings, but I believe that they are almost the same person at heart. 


This painting, called Medea, was created by artist Evelyn De Morgan. She created it in 1889, and is currently in the Williams Art Gallery. 





I believe that this famous image of Rosie the Riveter perfectly describes Esch by the end of this novel. This image stood for the idea that, no matter what hardships, women are strong. This perfectly relates to Esch because, by the end of the novel, she has lost almost everything; the most major things being her house, Manny, her freedom due to the pregnancy, and China's puppies. Even after loosing all this, she is stronger than ever. 









Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:14 AM

    I think that the strongest points about your blog post was 1.) that you included a lot of detail and really went in depth with what happened in the book 2.) you analyzed the evidence that you chose really well. You perfectly connected the ideas that you were talking about.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 30, 2017 at 11:17 AM

    I also agree that the photo of Rosie the Riveter perfectly depicts Esch (I chose the same picture) because it really does show how powerful and strong women are even after everything that they go through in their lives. Once again, you connected Esch and Rosie very well.

    ReplyDelete

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