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the lovely bones

comprehension questions and answers/

Question	Answer
What is unusual about Susie as a narrator of ‘The Lovely Bones’?
How does the image below relate to Chapter 1? (image of milk cartons with missing children) What does this reference tell us about the context of 1970s’ USA?
What does the following quotation tell us about the context of 1970s’ USA:‘It was still back when people believed things like that didn’t happen.’?
How does Sebold establish her protagonist’s character in the second paragraph: In my junior high yearbook I had a quote from a Spanish poet…marked me as literary’
Find an example of a temporal shift used by Susie in Chapter 1.
What does: ‘but I never saw her in my heaven’ tell the reader about the storyworld of heaven?
What simile does Sebold use to describe the snow on December 6, 1973?
Find an example of hedging in Susie’s response to Harvey’s interrogative: “Wouldx you like to see?”?
What anecdote does Susie remember that Jack told about Lindsey in Chapter 1?
Why is Chapter 1 unusual in terms of the crime genre?
‘I was in my heaven by that time, fitting my limbs together ... There wasn’t a lot of bullshit in my heaven’ - identify examples of dysphemism in this quotation.
What advice does Franny give Susie about her death?
Who is the Hunchback of Notre Dame? What is ironic about this reference in Chapter 1?
How does Sebold use elements of the fantasy genre in the quotation: ‘Life is a perpetual yesterday for us.’?
What does the following quotation tell the reader about Sebold’s heaven storyworld: ‘By the time I popped up with enough wherewithal to look down at the goings-on on Earth, I was more concerned with my family than anything else.’
What does the following quotation tell the reader about the position of women in 1970s’ USA: ‘Girls were supposed to be soft, and only the girls we suspected were butch could climb the ropes at school.’
What is Spring Fling?
What did Mr Harvey ‘smash’ into Susie’s mouth?
Explore Sebold’s use of personification in: ‘Unsheathed, it smiled at me, curving up in a grin.’
What was Susie’s heaven like as described in paragraph 1, Chapter 2?
How many times does Sebold repeat ‘would’ [(expressing the conditional mood) indicating the consequence of an imagined event or situation] in paragraph 2, Chapter 2? What effect does this repetition have on the reader?
What language was the book that Holly was reading written in? From which movie did Holly choose her English name from?
Why do you think Sebold included this description: ‘I sat down on the swing next to her and twisted my body around and around to tie up the chains. Then I let go and spun until I stopped.’?
How did Franny die?
What did Susie want most upon arriving in heaven?
What line did Jack repeat to Abigail in Chapter 2?
What kind of shift is this an example of: ‘I looked away from them then, as they touched. I moved my eyes into the cornfield, seeing if there was anything that in the morning the police might find.’?
Which of Susie’s body parts did the Gilbert’s dog find?
What did the Salmons first tell Buckley about Susie?
Find a summary of the plot of: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare Why are they significant?
What was Ray Singh’s alibi?
What was Mr Harvey’s job / hobby?
In Chapter 2 What simile does Sebold use to describe how Mr Harvey makes himself appear innocent? ’
What is the name of the Salmon family’s dog?
What metaphor does Sebold use to describe the way Abigail prepared herself for Fenerman’s news?
What happened to ‘The fine wall of laden crystal that had protected her heart – somehow numbed her into disbelief’ when Len gave her the news about the pom pom hat? What sound did Abigail make?
Where did Jack let himself cry?
In Chapter 2 which new character does Sebold make reference to / Jack telephones?
How does Lindsey ‘harden’ herself’?
Where did Susie sit in her heaven towards the end of chapter 2? Who was the oldest resident in Susie’s heaven?
Find quotations where Sebold develops the fantasy storyworld of heaven in chapter 3.
Find quotations in chapter 3 where Sebold explores the connections between the fantasy storyworld of the ‘In-Between’ and Earth.
Find a summary of the play ‘Our Town’ by Thornton Wilder Why is it significant?
Who did Susie brush past on her way to heaven? In the horror/ghost genre, what type of character is this?
What did Ruth begin to do when people wouldn’t listen to her? What kind of books did Ruth read?
Who was Susie’s school friend? How did both Susie and Ruth react when they saw this friend and Brian ‘making out’?
Who burgled who’s locker in chapter 3?
What gift did Susie receive for her 11th birthday? How does this link to her ideal future and her future in heaven?
What did Jack affectionately call Abigail? Why is this symbolic?
What did Susie notice about her mother in the first photograph she took with her new camera?
What made Lindsey’s breath rush out of her when she looked in Susie’s room in Chapter 3?
What was Jack’s hobby? Why is this significant?
What did Jack do to his collection? Why?
How did Susie ‘break through’ the first time?
Who comforted Jack in chapter 3?
What had Harvey done in the hours after Susie’s murder?
What did the new owners tsk tsk at in Harvey’s house?
How did Harvey feel as he washed after the murder? What alliterative adjective does Sebold use to describe Susie’s ‘death moan’?
Name three items Harvey threw into the waxy cloth sack besides Susie?
Where did Harvey take Susie’s remains?
What did Lindsey leave on the edge of the cornfield for Susie? Why is this symbolic?
What were the Flanagans cooking when Harvey arrived at the sink hole? Why is this symbolic?
What did Harvey take as a memento from Susie?
What did Harvey want to do two days before Christmas? Why? What was the weather like?
What medical condition did the Harvey men have?
What words does Jack repeat to Harvey in Chapter 4?
What does Susie try to make bloom on Earth in Chapter 4?
Susie says of the dogs in heaven: ‘They hunted. So did I.’ Who is Susie hunting?
Which body part did Susie want to ‘palpate’ in Chapter 4?
Why did Susie choose to ‘stand with [Harvey], to see those miles ahead as he saw them’ in Chapter 4?
How did Susie wish her father would react to her murder differently?
How does Jack cope with his grief / guilt in Chapter 5?
How does Susie respond when Jack notes: ‘I think Susie watches me?’
What syndrome does Lindsey have to deal with? Why did Lindsey avoid mirrors?
How did Abigail now feel about the word Momma in Chapter 5?
Why did Len find Harvey’s story compelling? What does Jack say about Harvey’s wife’s name?
Who does Harvey first incriminate?
What game were the Salmons playing on Christmas Day when Susie states: ‘I sat with my father then. I was the ghost on the board.’? What happened to the piece on that board that symbolised Susie?
What did Samuel give Lindsey? When Lindsey kissed Samuel [significant] how did Susie react?
What was the consequence if a hall monitor caught you “trying to get in the front doors after the first bell”? Who catches Susie sneaking in through the back door to the stage?
What made Ray “cool” to Susie? Why was Ray skipping English class?
In Chapter 6, what changes does Susie say she would’ve made if she “had known this was to be the sex scene of [her] life” What interrupted their kiss?
Why was Ruth in trouble with Mr. Peterford and Miss Ryan?
What were the two effects Ruth’s drawing has on its viewers according to Susie in Chapter 6?
How does Susie describe her only kiss with Ray?
Why did teachers not bother to report Ruth for cutting class?
What did Ruth take from the cornfield?
What ritual did Ray and Ruth develop? What did they talk about?
What did Lindsey say to Abigail when she tried to take her swimming?
In the first two months, what did Jack and Abigail find themselves doing in relation to one another?
What advice does Ruana give Jack when he confides his suspicions of Harvey?
What marked Len as different from the rest of the force?
Who does Abigail remind Len of? Why?
What was Jack’s favourite part of his day - even if it was fake? (Chapter 6)
What did Susie wish to tell her mother in Chapter 6?
What was kept in Len’s wallet, and what would he do in relation to these?
Why didn’t Susie want to “yearn for Buckley”?
What were the grave rubbings replaced with when Susie had turned “double digits”? What was pictured in the grave rubbing that Lindsey and Susie would lay under? Who did the knight's dead wife move onto in the game Lindsey and Susie would play?
What item had Lindsey taken from Susie’s room shortly after her death?
What did Holiday take from the storage space underneath Susie’s bed?
What had Buckley choked on one summer? What colour was Susie painting her nails? What was Lindsey doing?
What were the crows holding in their beaks in Susie’s heaven in Chapter 7?
How long had Mr Harvey been dreaming about buildings? Which building did he dream of the most? Why is this symbolic?
What were Harvey’s ‘not still’ dreams about?
What is Mr Harvey’s first name?
What is Harvey’s dad’s job? Why is this symbolic?
What was the colour of Mr Harvey’s mum’s necklace and what was inside of it? Why is this symbolic?
Where in New Mexico did Mr Harvey’s family go?
What simile does Sebold use to describe Harvey as he sat in the backseat? What is the significance of this simile?
What colour was his mum wearing when she ran away? Why is this symbolic?
Why does Grandma Lynn feel the need to ‘ask (Abigail) questions until she knew who everyone was, whether or not (Abigail) had seen the inside of their house...’?
What’s Grandma Lynn’s opinion on ‘baby fat’?
What is Abigail doing when Grandma Lynn decides to give her a makeover?
How does Grandma Lynn know Lindsey has a boyfriend?
What does Lindsey see when she looks in the mirror after having makeup on? Why is this symbolic?
What did Mrs Utemeyer call Lindsey?
Why was Susie’s memorial day not the worst kind for Jack?
Why didn’t Ruth believe in makeup?
What does Ray do with the picture he has of Susie?
Why do you think Fenerman was at the memorial?
Who did Lindsey see during the final hymn? How did she react? What is significant about how close this person was standing to Fenerman? What is significant about how this person is dressed?
What does the fish on Lindsey's name tag symbolise and why does she draw it?
Where does Samuel’s brother, Hal live?
What is Susie's favourite murder weapon and why? Why is this significant?
What is the project at the Symposium?
How can Susie progress to the ‘second heaven’?
What is Ruth more interested in since Susie died?
Where does Lindsey lose her virginity? Why is this symbolic?
What does Jack do before leaving the house for his walk with Holiday?
How does Abigail try to accomodate Buckley’s late arrival?
What did Harvey have upstairs where Lindsey, Buckley and Susie had their rooms?
Who did the heel of the shoe Harvey had kept belong to?
What was the darkest place in Susie’s house?
What would Harvey do to the bodies of the cats and dogs he killed? Why did he take these lesser lives?
What was Lindsey wearing when she opened the door to Len Fenerman?
What drink did Samuel show Lindsey in Chapter 11?
Where does Jack often sleep since Susie’s death?
Who does Jack run into in the cornfield?
What does Susie do back in the room with the green chair at the end of Chapter 11?
On what part of his body does Jack need surgery?
Who did Buckley cling to when the Salmons found out that Jack was in the cornfield? Why is this symbolic?
How did Lindsey get to the hospital in Chapter 12? Who did she arrange to babysit Buckley? Why are these actions symbolic?
What element of the fantasy genre is Sebold employing in: ‘My mother was not in his hospital room when Lindsey entered; it was just my father and me.’?
What did Lindsey sing to her father in Chapter 12?
What does Franny do when Susie asks her: “What about the dead?” … “Where do we go?”
What is Abigail wearing when she goes to the hospital in Chapter 12?
What made the nurses turn their heads away in the hospital in Chapter 12?
How did Len’s wife die?
What happened on the service balcony in Chapter 12? Why?
What does Abigail have a master’s degree in?
Who did Abigail tell stories about during Susie and Lindsey’s baths? What game did Susie play to try and win her mother’s approval?
When did everything change for Abigail?
What does Franny describe souls as?
What are people at school now referring to Lindsey as in Chapter 13?
Who had Buckley got a crush on in kindergarten? Why is this symbolic?
Where did Jack say his fake knee had come from to Buckley?
What did Susie say her dad had become after challenging his injury?
Who did Jack think should be helping Lindsey shave her legs?
What did Grandma Lynn do with Abigail after noticing she was not herself?
What did Abigail admit to resenting her mother for?
Where did Abigail ask if it was okay to go stay for a while if she needed to?
What moment did Ray keep drifting back to?
What did Abigail dream of that night (Chapter 13)? Why is this symbolic?
How had Lindsey become like Harvey?
What did Harvey begin to do when he noticed Lindsey watching his house?
How did Harvey create his wives?
Where does Harvey go every afternoon for a couple of hours?
What was ‘the Battle of the Clouds’? Why is this symbolic?
Which two adjectives do the tour guides or teachers use to describe Harvey?
How did Harvey picture ‘the attractive, heavy woman’ who ‘tried to engage him in conversation’?
What could the lonely men in the park see in Mr Harvey if they looked closely enough?
On what date did Lindsey break into Harvey’s house? What made Susie marvel at her sister? How did Lindsey break into Harvey’s house? Where did Susie initially want to guide Lindsey’s eyes to and then changed her mind?
Write down some of the memories Lindsey experiences because Harvey’s house has an identical layout to the Salmon’s. How does Susie manage to break through to help Lindsey? Susie wasn't the only ghost haunting Harvey’s house. Who else?
Which linguistic techniques does Sebold employ to build tension in the following: ‘Car pulling up. Car braking with a squeak. Car door slamming shut.’?
What evidence does Lindsey take from Harvey’s house?
What number screamed at Harvey?
How does Abigail react to Lindsey becoming Jack’s helper?
Who does Susie meet in the wheat field in the In-Between? What simile / metaphor does Sebold employ to describe the comfort the victims give one another? What is symbolic about it?
Which two adjectives are used to describe Harvey’s mother’s love for him? What made both Harvey and his mother laugh? What advice does Harvey’s mother give him?
Who did Harvey and his mother have to escape from in their truck? What did Harvey’s mother do once they had started the truck?
What was Harvey’s moment of clarity as a young boy?
What did Harvey hang on a rusty jut of a metal support over which the workmen had poured the cement?
What did Harvey do about five minutes after Lindsey’s break in?
What did the two police officers that went to Harvey’s house think of him? How did Harvey explain the sketch of the den in the cornfield?
Who did Abigail telephone to meet her at the mall near the grocery store? Where did Abigail leave Buckley at the mall? What did Susie say her mother could never know?
What was Abigail’s ‘most temporal wish’?
What were “the only hint of any organisational skills Susie possessed”?
Where is Abigail’s father’s cabin?
Where in the house does Grandma Lynn stay?
What colour was Abigail’s scarf, and where did Lindsey find it? What is the symbolism here?
Who helped Buckley build his fort, and why did he want to build it?
What did Buckley like reading?
What did Len find that proved who killed Susie?
What did Len write on his once-blank photographs of victims?
What two things are found in Connecticut?
What moment did Abigail remember when she looked at herself in the mirror in snapshots?
What does Abigail find on the beach, and what is she trying to reach there? Why is this symbolic?
What was Susie’s flower? Why is this symbolic?
What did Susie feel when a stranger said her name?
What is Ray’s favourite book?
What was the date of Susie’s “would have been” graduation?
What becomes Buckley’s new hobby? Why is this symbolic?
What was Abigail’s plan while she was away, that she then changed?
Where was Ruth living after graduation?
What is known as “the Angel of Death”?
Why has Mr Harvey been travelling about during Snapshots?
When did Len receive the call from Delaware? Who finds a lead on Harvey from a past convict?
Who finds Susie during Evensong in Snapshots? Why is this significant?
What does Ruana do to try and forget her husband?
What did Ruth bring to Ray’s house in Chapter 16? What do they do there? What is the significance?
What do people in the town do to mark Susie’s death anniversary? What is Abigail doing instead? Who was already at the cornfield when Ruth and Ray arrived? Who was already at the cornfield when Ruth and Ray arrived? Who does Jack ask to sing?
What lie does Abigail tell Lindsey in Chapter 16?
What excuse does Lindsey use to tell Buckley why Abigail isn’t coming to the cornfield? Where does Abigail hide from Jack?
What does Abigail describe Susie as when she is sitting in the storm? Why is this significant?
What kind of haircut do Lindsey and Samuel share? Why is this significant?
Who can Susie get the most lost with when watching them on Earth?
What does Susie describe Samuel as to Lindsey?
What was Sam obsessed with and what was Hal obsessed with? What is the symbolism?
What kind of house is it that Samuel and Lindsey find? What is the symbolism?
What does Jack feel when he looks at pictures of Abigail that Susie took?
Why was being late at the Salmon house different to being late in other houses?
What reason does Susie mention as to why she loved taking pictures? What parallel is created between this hobby and her afterlife?
How does Susie describe Buckley in Chapter 17?
How does Susie react to the engagement?
What are Sam and Lindsey wearing when they run back to the house? What memory does Lindsey have while they are running home? Why is this significant?
What does Buckley see in the room as the family celebrates the engagement? What is the symbolism?
What mode of transport does Susie go on when she tires of watching?
What does Susie see when she opens her eyes on the train?
What does Susie think of at the very end of chapter 17 to do with her father?
How does Ruth describe her trip back to the sinkhole? Who does Ruth want to take to the sinkhole?
How would Ruth walk?
Why did women line up in heaven?
How did Ruth learn how women died?
Which TWO little girls does Ruth see when she sat on a bench on a path leading to the Central Park Zoo and looked out across the gravel at children with their nannies?
Explore this quotation in terms of Sebold’s use of the fantasy genre: ‘We spent the afternoon together there, Ruth sitting on the carpeted seat that ran the length of the exhibit… for a little while, she could drown out the other kinds of screams.’.
What grade is Buckley in in Chapter 18?
Whose clothes does Buckley pick to make stakes for his tomato plants and what does Jack do to them? What item does Buckley accuse Jack of taking from his room? What happens to Jack? What is the significance?
What two wishes did Susie feel the clock ticking repeated back at her in Chapter 18?
When Susie sees her Grandfather, what do they do together? What are Susie’s Grandfather’s words as he leaves?
From which airport does Abigail begin her journey back to her family?
What good news does Grandma Lynn share with Abigail over the phone? Who is Jack apparently asking for according to Grandma Lynn?
What picture did Abigail keep “turned upside down in a fold of leather meant for a credit card”? Where did she leave the photo? What is the significance?
How many years had Abigail been away? Why did Abigail return?
What did Lindsey want to ask Abigail at the airport? Why is this significant?
What did Buckley whisper to Abigail in the car? Why is this significant?
What does Jack call Abigail when he sees her at the hospital in Chapter 19? Why is this significant?
What note does Grandma Lynn intercept in Chapter 19? What does she do with the note?
Where does Harvey sleep in Connecticut?
What did Len do when he was off duty? Why is this significant?
What did Len mean to give back to Jack?
What flowers did Abigail buy Jack? Why is this significant?
What did Abigail not like about returning home?
What did Susie whisper to her parents as they slept together in the hospital?
What dream did Mr.Harvey have when he felt threatened?
What did Abigail and Jack realise after Abigail’s return?
What had Ray Singh been to Susie?
Who was Grandma Lynn’s first kiss with?
What was the article that Mr Connors saved for Ruth about?
What had Joe Ellis never got over?
What did Len Fenerman bring to the hospital for Jack and Abigail?
What did Harvey’s car look like? Who did Ruth see in Harvey’s car?
What had happened to the first girl Harvey ever hurt? What had Harvey done to try to conceal what he had done from his father? Where was this girl now?
Who did Ruth have a crush on when she was growing up?
Why had Ray developed a crush on Susie?
What gift were Samuel and Hal going to give Buckley for his birthday?
How had the new neighbours changed Harvey’s house?
How did Harvey prepare himself for the police in Chapter 21?
What convention of the horror genre occurs at the end of chapter 21?
Which three adjectives does Susie use to describe Harvey’s departure at the start of Chapter 22?
What sensations does Susie experience as she possesses Ruth’s body? What was weighing her down? How does Sebold subvert the horror convention of possession?
Which of Sebold’s intertextual references does this sentence relate to: ‘I knew I would not be granted this grace on Earth forever, that Ruth’s wish was only temporary.’?
What was Holly doing in the In-Between when Susie kissed Ray? Where did Susie say she wanted to go afterwards?
How does Susie see Ruth’s body upon possessing it? Why?
How does Sebold make Susie’s second sexual experience so different from the first?
What does Susie tell Ray he must read in Chapter 22?
Who answered the phone at the Salmon’s house in Chapter 22?
How did it feel for Susie to leave Earth for the second time? Who accompanied Susie on her journey back?
What did Lindsey eventually realise about the daffodils left in the cornfield on the first memorial?
What is significant about the adjective ‘alone’ in ‘When they reached the lobby and the doors opened I knew they were meant to be there, the four of them together, alone.’?
Why do you think Sebold describes Ruana’s husband as a ghost in: ‘He walked in the room like a ghost and like a ghost slipped in between the sheets, barely creasing them.’?
Why do you think Grandma Lynn and Hal agreed Buckley needed the drum kit early?
Sebold is resolving her narrative by Chapter 23; how do the following contribute to that resolution: A] ‘I had come to love her more after death than I ever had on Earth.’ B] ‘Her strange Abigail, whom she loved.’ C] ‘“I love you, Susie,” she said.’
Sebold is resolving her narrative by Chapter 23; how does this contribute to it: D] ‘Her mother was loving if she was drunk, solid if she was vain. When was it all right to let go not only of the dead but of the living – to learn to accept?’
Sebold is resolving her narrative by Chapter 23; how does this contribute to that resolution: E] ‘I was done yearning for them, needing them to yearn for me. Though I still would.Though they still would. Always.’
Explore Sebold’s bones metaphor: ‘These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence‘
Explore how Sebold resolves Susie and Ruth‘s bond: ‘And there she was…would always feel me… Ruth had been a girl haunted and now she would be a woman haunted…the story of my life and death, was hers if she chose to tell it, even to one person at a time.’
Explore the impact of: ‘I realized then that they would not know when I was gone, just as they could not know sometimes how heavily I had hovered in a particular room.’ and the final paragraph: ‘And I was gone.’
Which similes does Susie use to describe how you feel the dead leaving when they want to go?
Who is Tennessee Williams? Who is Dean Martin? What is the significance?
Who sold the Victorian house to Lindsey and Samuel?
What did Jack dream he would do with his grandchild?
What did Susie do from her heaven to ‘leave humans stumped and grateful’ in the final chapter?
Find evidence that Ray Singh still believed in the possibility of a spiritual world despite being a medical doctor.
Where does Ruth believe the spirits are and what are they doing?
How does Susie’s grandfather describe the wide, wide Heaven? How does Susie describe her wide, wide Heaven?
How did Mr Harvey die? What is the significance?
What did Lindsey and Samuel name their baby? Why do you think Sebold included the baby in her novel at this point?
Analyse this quote: ‘Apple pie, cheeseburger, ice cream, coffee. Full. Better and better he was getting now..’

Created by: katherineaustin08

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