Wuthering Heights and the Lovely Bones Literary Analysis

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The classic tale of Wuthering Heights, by Emilie Bronte, has a generous amount of similarities with the more recent novel by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones. These novels explore life altering values and reactions through a series of carefully thought out and diverse characters. In addition to their similarities, the novels complement each other through just as many differences as similarities, if not more. Wuthering Heights and The Lovely Bones both examine the plethora of different ways human beings deal with physical and psychological losses, exemplifying the notion that every person handles loss in their own individualistic ways, influenced by their environment, whether it be negatively or positively. “This uniqueness comes not only from biological factors, such as temperament, but is also developed from experiences, such as a person's sense of individuality, or a combination of both environmental and biological factors, such as personality” (Levchuck, Mcneill, Nagel, Newton, Chenes, Drohan, 1). The Lovely Bones is a Bildungsroman that seems to tug on the heartstrings of everyone that reads it. It begins with Susie Salmon, the main character, describing a memory of her father and her penguin snow globe. When she voices her concern that the penguin is lonely, her father urges her not to worry because “[the penguin] has a nice life. He’s trapped in a perfect world” (Sebold, 1). This penguin snow-globe, we soon realize, is an analogy to Suzie’s attempt to achieve happiness in her “perfect” Heaven. Suzie is later murdered after being raped and beaten by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. After arriving in her first heaven, Susie must learn to deal with the aftermath of the prior events. Susie has to deal with the loss of her friends, family, and her own physical body. Throughout the first half of the book, Susie observes the actions of her loved one, longing for someone to

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