Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Farming of Bones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Memory
Dreams vs. Reality
Language and Identity
Death, Grief, and Hope
Home, Family, and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
Amabelle dreams about a figure she calls the “sugar woman.” The woman dances a “kalanda,” and when Amabelle speaks to the woman, her voice sounds like the voice of “the orphaned child at the stream.” Amabelle wakes up, knowing that she only talks in her sleep about her parents or the sugar woman. Sebastien asks which dream she just had, and she says he can be “impatient with [her] shadows.”
The sugar woman, a figure in Amabelle’s dream, is a physical embodiment of Amabelle’s fantasies. Her dreams are so powerful that they seem to speak to her, and distract her with dances. Still, the sugar woman’s voice sounds like the voice of an orphan. This description reveals that even Amabelle’s fantastical dreams are affected by the grief left in the wake of her parents’ death.
Themes
