Winter's Bone

Ree teaches her brothers how to hunt squirrels—how to shoot cleanly, strategize the hunt for a bigger quarry, and clean the carcasses. At first, Harold is rather squeamish about touching the guts, but overcomes his hesitation after seeing Sonny and Ree doing it. Ree admonishes him, telling Harold, “You can’t always leave the ugly stuff to Sonny” (107). Later, he and Sonny begin to play with the entrails and paint each other’s faces with the blood while Ree finishes cleaning the remains. As they work in the woods, Ree looks over the acres of timber that had been passed down from the Bromont side of the family. She knows that selling the land would lead to the ruination of the family and that it must be held onto at any cost. 

After preparing and eating dinner, Ree relaxes on the couch and enters into a surreal stream of consciousness. Though her thoughts are abstract and image-based, they center on her feelings of being alone and unintelligible to those around her. These images of confusion and isolation evolve into an erotic fantasy of childhood kisses and disrobing a woman.

Uncle Teardrop’s arrival interrupts Ree’s dreamlike state. He asks Ree if she thinks he forgot about her, to which Ree responds that he has the prerogative to forget them.