Previous
Themes
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Winter’s Bone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Winter’s Bone follows Ree Dolly’s epic journey through the Ozarks in search of an answer to her missing father Jessup’s whereabouts; he’s on the run from the law, and has put up as his bond his family’s house and timber woods. If Ree is unable to turn him up by the date of his scheduled appearance in court, the Dolly family home will be repossessed, leaving Ree, her silent, mentally ill mother Connie, and her two young brothers Sonny and Harold with nowhere to go. Ree makes her way through the physically desolate and economically isolated landscape of the Ozark mountains, encountering a labyrinthine network of increasingly distant relatives who consist of crank (meth) cookers, drug dealers, and powerful, shadowy figures. Each member of her extended family whom she encounters warns Ree against seeking the truth, and advises her to stay close to home and out of trouble. The secrets that keep the communities within the Ozarks alive and functioning are the selfsame secrets that stand to tear them apart. Ree’s defiance of the veil of secrecy over the Ozarks and her journey toward understanding disrupts a longstanding, seemingly ironclad pattern of hidden, unspoken things and brings to light—for everyone she encounters—the true consequences of silence and the effect it has created throughout the Ozark community.
“Talkin' just causes witnesses,” says Thump Milton’s wife Merab when Ree first requests an audience with him. The Thump clan frightens Ree, but soon we learn that they, in turn, are frightened of her and what she represents: a thirst for understanding, a new way of communicating, and a bringing to light of the dark and dangerous inner workings of their family’s business.
Daniel Woodrell, an Ozark native and the author of Winter’s Bone, is clearly demonstrating something in the novel about the cycle of silence in rural communities. By choosing as his main character a young girl, Ree, who is (though tough, self-sufficient, and in many ways wise beyond her years) seemingly in a lowered position of power, Woodrell is forcing readers to challenge their perceptions of what and who can act as an agent of change in parts of the country that are governed by an ancient, esoteric kind of law.
It’s revealed, eventually, that Ree’s father Jessup was murdered because he snitched—he betrayed his own, and was killed for his breach of the silence that keeps the Ozark crank operation running just out of sight of the law. Though Ree is indeed an agent of change in her community, it’s implied that there are some traditions that will never be broken and some breaches of custom that will never go unpunished. Ree’s horrifying exhumation of Jessup’s corpse at the novel’s end is an unforgettable focal point in the narrative, showing the lengths the community is willing to go to preserve its secrets and hidden workings. Yet at the same time, this literal uncovering of the physical evidence of a secret suggests that a change or a break in the cycle of silence at last seems possible.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…
Silence and Secrets ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Silence and Secrets appears in each chapter of Winter’s Bone. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Chapter
Chapter 1
1
Chapter 2
2
Chapter 3
3
Chapter 4
4
Chapter 5
5
Chapter 6
6
Chapter 7
7
Chapter 8
8
Chapter 9
9
Chapter 10
10
Chapter 11
11
Chapter 12
12
Chapter 13
13
Chapter 14
14
Chapter 15
15
Chapter 16
16
Chapter 17
17
Chapter 18
18
Chapter 19
19
Chapter 20
20
Chapter 21
21
Chapter 22
22
Chapter 23
23
Chapter 24
24
Chapter 25
25
Chapter 26
26
Chapter 27
27
Chapter 28
28
Chapter 29
29
Chapter 30
30
Chapter 31
31
Chapter 32
32
Chapter 33
33
Chapter 34
34
Chapter 35
35
Get the entire Winter’s Bone LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Silence and Secrets Quotes in Winter’s Bone
Below you will find the important quotes in Winter’s Bone related to the theme of Silence and Secrets.
Chapter 3 Quotes
Ree nearly fell but would not let it happen in front of the law. She heard thunder clapping between her ears and Beelzebub scratchin’ a fiddle. The boys and her and mom would be dogs in the field without this house. They would be dogs in the field with Beelzebub scratchin’ out tunes and the boys’d have a hard hard shove toward unrelenting meanness and the roasting shed and she’d be stuck along side them ‘til steel doors clanged shut and the flames rose. She’d never have her own concerns.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree experiences an intense physical and emotional reaction to the news that her father, Jessup, has put up as his bond their family’s home and land. It is one of Ree’s only moments of weakness in the novel—she “nearly” falls, but her refusal to appear weak or frightened in front of the hated lawman who is delivering the news—Deputy Baskin—keeps her from succumbing to her distress and fear. The invocation of Beelzebub (a devil who is, in Christian tradition, second in command to Satan) reveals an allegory, in Ree’s mind, between her father’s actions and those of a dark, taunting Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perf
Chapter 5 Quotes
“Don’t you, nor nobody else, neither, ever go down around Hawkfall askin’ them people shit about stuff they ain’t offerin’ to talk about. That’s a real good way to end up et by hogs, or wishin’ you was… Our relations get watered kinda thin between this valley here and Hawkfall.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree, though fierce and determined and capable in many areas, is naïve to many of the ways of the dangerous and insular world of which her family is a significant part. When she asks Teardrop if it’s possible to reach out to distant relatives who live in Hawkfall and inquire as to whether they’re privy to Jessup’s whereabouts, his reaction (quoted here) is both fearful and violent—and readers will later learn that his intense wariness is justified, once Ree finds herself entangled in the complicated mechanics of the Hawkfall community and the fearsome Thump clan. Secrecy, violence, isolation, women’s prescribed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Duci
Chapter 10 Quotes
“He cooks crank.”
“Honey, They all do now. You don’t even need to say it out loud.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The rampant drug consumption throughout the Ozarks is matched only by its production. The inheritance of the Dolly clan—and the Thumps, and the other nameless clans that comprise the population of the novel’s Ozark world—is the legacy of moonshining. Just as the moonshiners of old did, the Dolly men now must cook and sell crank, or crystal meth, as there is little other work available to them. The entire ecosystem of the Ozarks is primed to support this deadly trade, and there is little of Ozark life that remains unaffected by the threat of its casualties. Themes of silence and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperio
“It’s been this way with our people forever, goddam it. For-fuckin’-ever. You go see Thump. Go up there’n knock gentle on his door, and wait.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree and Megan, though young, are both aware of their “people’s” ancient ways and “bloodsoaked customs.” The cycle of secrecy, violence, and inherited loyalties and grudges alike calibrates every interaction. Though Ree and Megan are technically related, the gulf between them is vast and marked by mutual distrust; nonetheless, Megan suggests that Ree, determined as she is for answers, call upon Thump Milton, the leader and most powerful, knowledgeable member of Megan’s family. She gives Ree both permission and protocol to head up the mountain to Thump’s house, but makes sure to leave her with the reminder that gentleness and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit
Chapter 11 Quotes
“Ma’am, I got a real bad need to talk with Thump Milton…I need to, I really, really need to, ma’am. Please—I am a Dolly! Some of our blood at least is the same. That’s s’posed to mean somethin’—ain’t that what is always said?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree, desperate for answers, finds herself up against Merab, Thump Milton’s imposing wife. Merab refuses to let Ree inside Thump’s house, or even to tell him that she’s outside; Ree begs and begs and, finally, invokes their families’ blood ties. By referring to “what is always said,” Ree is doing the additional work of invoking the old ways: the ancient codes of loyalty, cooperation, and allegiance to which the Ozark families of the novel are bound. Ree ultimately exposes a weakness in Merab through these pleas, and, though she isn’t granted an audience with Thump, she realizes that perhaps the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus e
To have but a few male names in use was a tactic held over from the olden knacker ways…Let any sheriff or similar nabob try to keep official accounts on the Dolly men when so many were named Milton, Haslam, Arthur or Jessup… Jessups, Arthurs, Haslams and Miltons were born to walk only the beaten Dolly path, live and die in keeping with those bloodline customs fiercest held.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
So insular is the Dolly clan and the community they inhabit that they have constructed intricate mechanisms for upholding their codes of secrecy, loyalty, and isolation. By giving most male children born into the family one of just a few names, they are able to ensure that when those children are grown and join the “family business,” so to speak, their roles will be defined; furthermore, they will be all but untouchable when it comes to legal action and intervention at the hands of the local police. In this world, names hold within them a destiny; certain names denote certain Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur
Chapter 14 Quotes
“You son of a bitch. You go straight to hell’n fry in your own lard. Sonny’n Harold’ll die livin’ in a fuckin’ cave with me’n Mom before they’ll ever spend a single fuckin’ night with you. Goddam you, Blond Milton, you must think I’m a stupid idiot or somethin’—there’s horseweed standin’ chin-high inside that place!”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Though loyal and dutiful to the rest of her family, Ree is most fiercely protective of her own immediate kin. When Blond Milton attempts to deceive her as to her father’s whereabouts by showing her a long-ago-blown meth lab and offering to take Sonny—his biological son—off of her hands by taking him into his own home, Ree lashes out, declaring that keeping her family together is the most important thing in her life, and that she will die before giving it up. As the self-appointed matriarch of her little family, Ree knows that she must stand up to others—even her Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possi
Chapter 16 Quotes
“Somethin’ real wrong was goin’ on, and since then I’ve gone over it and over it in my head and think I finally get why he didn’t even nod my way. He was protectin’ me, see, by ignorin’ me. That’s when I understood your dad had loved me. I understood it from how he’d looked away.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Secrecy is both a destructive and lifegiving force within the unforgiving underworld of the Ozarks. On the one hand, it enables the established power structures to remain intact; on the other hand, ignorance can literally be one’s salvation in this world, as knowing the wrong secrets—even just one—can render one a serious liability. Here, April helps Ree to understand secrecy’s full power firsthand. She knows, she says, that something dangerous was going on with Jessup the last time she saw him because of how he purposefully ignored her. Though she was at first confused and offended, she finally realized that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaec
Chapter 21 Quotes
“Mom, I’m goin’ to need you to help. There’s things happenin’ that I don’t know what to do about. Mom? Look at me, Mom. Mom?” Ree waited kneeling for several minutes, kneeling as raised hopes fell to modest hopes, slight hopes, vague hopes, kneeling until any hope at all withered to none…She released Mom, stood and walked away into the shadows.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree, though more capable than her mother mentally, is still only sixteen, and thus is still a child. Her mother’s incapacitation, though, has forced Ree into a kind of motherly role that she never asked to assume and that, though she carries out with grace and skill, wears on her day after day. In the thick of such turmoil, Ree turns to her mother and begs her, on a walk through the woods, to give her any guidance at all, but her pleas go unanswered and unacknowledged. Ree finally accepts that her mother will not be able to aid her Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti
Chapter 25 Quotes
“I got two little brothers who can’t feed theirselves…My mom is sick and she is always goin’ to be sick. Pretty soon the laws’re takin’ our house away n’throwin’ us out…to live in the fields…like fuckin’ dogs. The only hope I got to keep our house is I gotta prove Dad’s dead. Whoever killed him, I don’t need to know that. I don’t never need to know that. If Dad did wrong, Dad has paid. But I can’t forever carry…them boys’n Mom…not…without that house to help.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ree finally is granted an audience with the fearsome Thump Milton—though not under the circumstances she imagined. After being mercilessly beaten at the hands of Thump’s wife and her sisters, Ree regains consciousness inside a barn, where several members of the Thump clan have gathered around her. Ree pleads with Thump to give her answers, to help her prove that her father is dead; without that grace from him, she knows, she will lose everything. Even in the face of extreme and humiliating violence, Ree retains her independent nature and her allegiance to her brothers and her mother. She places Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possim
Chapter 32 Quotes
This was how sudden things happened that haunted forever.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As Uncle Teardrop pulls a gun on Deputy Baskin, Ree has a slow, internal moment of panic and realization tied together in one. So much of her life is tied to a largely obtuse and unspoken ancient code, or to respecting hallowed roles and traditions. Here, she realizes that these institutions that calibrate her life, and the lives of everyone around her, can be made or broken in just a second; legacies of hatred and violence are created in single moments, and, by the same token, ancient grudges can be erased in a second—though not, she realizes, without grave consequences. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Elige
Chapter 34 Quotes
“We’ll carry you to your daddy’s bones, child. We know the place.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Though unconventional to be sure, this quote represents a kind of redemption for Merab and the Thump women. As perpetrators of gross violence against Ree, the Thump women are intimidating and antagonistic figures. Yet here, though they are only helping Ree in order to quell the rumors about their despicable acts that have been spreading throughout the Ozarks, they are still giving her what she’s been after all along: the knowledge of Jessup’s fate. Their not-entirely-pure motives are representative of their way of life, though; the world of the Ozarks in the novel is a world of violence, retribution, and, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dic
