Rule of the Bone

Bone’s history of sexual abuse by his stepfather is at the root of what might traditionally be called his behavioral issues. At the beginning of the novel, he is impulsively angry, he uses marijuana excessively, and he has taken to committing petty crime. He also is unwilling to go into details of his experiences with his stepfather at the beginning of the novel, but he slowly opens up about it over the course of his narration. The violence he’s experienced causes him to feel intense shame, so much so that he cannot confess it to his mother, leading to the dissolution of their relationship. It also causes him to lash out whenever he’s in a situation that reminds him of his stepfather or makes him feel like he’s alone in the world.

Tellingly, he’s willing to subject himself to further abuse if it means he can rescue Rose from Buster Brown, but he also doesn’t understand the impact this would have on him. When he sees the mannequins, which are somehow both sexual and prepubescent to him, he realizes he can’t do it; though he understands sexual violence from adults, he’s been left unequipped to deal with it, even when faced with it directly.