The Soundtrack to Bone's Life

The Soundtrack to Her Life

Music can describe things about you that you didn’t even know you were feeling. It can make you understand situations just because you now have a sense of how you should feel. When reading Bastard Out of Carolina by, Dorothy Allison I couldn’t help but think of these 5 songs; “Concrete Angel”, “Pretty/Unpretty”, “My Little Girl”, “Invisible”, and “Warrior”.

“Concrete Angel” (Martina Mcbride)

 The reason why I chose this song is that it depicts the sexual scenes throughout thewhole novel. The part that struck me the most is the very beginning of the song when she sings:

 “She walks to school with the lunch she packed

Nobody knows what she's holdin' back

Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday

She hides the bruises with linen and lace”

It reminded me a lot of when Daddy Glenn beat poor Bone. “The belt went up and came down. Fire along my thighs” (Allison, 234). The whole time I was reading this I couldn’t help but picture this song and even the music video where you see a young girl get beat by her mother and you see the bruises of the aftermath.

“Pretty/Unpretty”(Glee Version):

This song kept coming back up in my mind every time I heard the Boatwright’s refer to each other as being ugly. In this song they talk about feeling pretty and looking inside who you are to feel pretty. This song reminded me of a few scenes throughout the novel. One being when Anney talks about Aunt Ruth and when she tells Bone “I wish I could be sure Ruth knew how Beautiful she was” (Allison, 231). Also another scene that reminded me of this song was when the Boatwright’s also call each other ugly “Ruth was never pretty, you know” (Allison, 229). To me when I was reading this novel I couldn’t help but feel like this song is something Bone would say:

“I wish I could tie you up in my shoes

Make you feel unpretty too”

I feel like Bone would want someone to see what she was going through in her family and then maybe someone could tell her that she really was pretty.

           

“My Little Girl”(Tim Mcgraw):

 Now this may seem strange that I put this song in this soundtrack, but as I was reading the book I couldn’t help but think of this song. I didn’t think it because of a certain scene it was more of because I wanted Bone to feel this love from her father. I also know that in the novel Bone wishes and wonders why Daddy Glenn doesn’t love her. This broke my heart because everyone should have that father figure that you know will always love you:

             “Go on, take on this whole world.

            But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl.”

“Invisible” (Hunter Hayes):

This song reminded me a lot of how I pictured Bone was feeling:

“And you've been trying for so long

        To find out where your place is”

This to me describes Bone. No one understands her or what she is going through except for her and I just wanted there to be someone there for her so she could relate to and not feel so alone. When Bone was talking about liking the feeling of being numb I related it to feeling invisible, or at least wanting to feel invisible.  “It was kind of interesting being drunk. I liked the numb part” (Allison, 243). This is why I feel like this song pertains to Bone because to me being numb is being invisible.

            “Warrior” (Demi Lovato):

 The reason why I chose this song was not because of the novel but because of the author. When we talked about the author’s story I remember thinking of this song. In the song Demi talks about the struggle she went through and how it affected her but how she broke through all that by telling her story:

     “This is a story that I have never told

     I gotta get this off my chest to let it go

       I need to take back the light inside you stole

                   You're a criminal”

It really reminded me of when the author told her mom to read the story yet her mom just thought it was funny and didn’t pay attention to the actual truth. This novel is the author’s story of her life and struggle. Just like Demi she has beat the struggle and now uses her story to help others. Many people believe that this novel gives a voice to the kids who never had one. This is why I chose this song for this novel.