Symbol: The Monopoly Shoe

 The Monopoly Shoe

 

 The shoe was the piece Susie uses whenever her family played monopoly. So when Jack had to explain to 4-year old Buckley that Susie is dead, he used the shoe to symbolize Susie's death.

     Jack said to Buckley, "Right, we'll make your friend Nate the hat and the board is the world. Now if I were to tell you that when I rolled the dice, one of the pieces will be taken away, what would that mean?" (p.69). In a way, in Buckley's mind, the shoe represented his sister. He cherished this shoe like he cherished his sister by keeping the shoe as a remembrance of her. Not surprisingly, Buckley was very upset when the shoe got lost. Losing the shoe meant losing Susie once again.

Symbol: The Number 5

The Number 5

     When Lindsey suspected that Mr. Harvey had something to do with Susie's death, she decided that to break into his house to search for clues. Mr. Harvey almost caught Lindsey snooping at his house but she was able to jump out of the window and into the bushes in the nick of time. However, Mr. Harvey caught sight of the back of Lindsey's jersey and noticed her jersey number: five. Afraid that he would be finally arrested of his crime, Mr. Harvey decided to leave the town and go into hiding. While in hiding, Mr. Harvey keeps recalling the number five. This number symbolizes the beginning of Mr. Harvey's life spiraling for the worst.  Mr. Harvey later got into a fatal accident while following his next victim, thus somewhat giving justice to the crimes that he had committed to his victims. 

Lindsey Salmon

   

 

Lindsey as portrayed by Rose McIver in the movie The Lovely Bones by Dreamworks Pictures. 

      Lindsey Salmon is Susie's younger sister. She was thirteen when Susie died. Lindsey is a brilliant girl evidenced by her participation in academic activities such as the Gifted Symposium each Summer and when she became a part of a clique--the History Heads. Lindsey exhibits her strength by refusing her father's offer of help in dealing with pressures from school being labeled as "the dead girl's sister". Lindsey showed her courage by being persistent in finding the person who killed Susie. She wasn't afraid to go to George Harvey's house when she started having suspicions in his involvement in Susie's death

Susie Salmon

     

                                Saoirse Ronan portrayed Susie Salmon in the movie The Lovely Bones.




        Susie Salmon is a fourteen year-old girl from Philadelphia. She was raped and murdered by her neighbor, Mr. George Harvey. Susie is the main character and serves as the narrator in the story. Susie tells the story from her point of view from heaven. Susie saw her sister struggle through her depression, being known as the dead girl's sister. She watched as her parents drifted away from each other as they cope over her death and later watched in glee as they reconcile. Susie followed the life of her murderer and somewhat felt justified when he died of an accident while pursuing another victim. Susie finally finds her peace at the end of the story as she sees her family moving on without her, and her murderer finally gone.