51 pages • 1 hour read
Dorothy AllisonBastard Out Of Carolina
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: The source text contains depictions of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and accidental death; it contains offensive, racist language (including use of the n-word.) This guide contains discussions of rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse, and violence.
Bone, whose given name is Ruth Anne, is from Greenville County, South Carolina. On the night she was born, her mother Anney was in a car accident along with Bone’s aunts Alma and Ruth and her uncle Travis. Anney did not regain consciousness during delivery. Bone was named by her aunt, after both the aunt (Ruth) and her mother (Anney.) Although no one in the family would admit it, Bone is sure that her uncle Travis had been drunk at the time of the crash. Because there was disagreement about her father’s name, and because he’d already left town, Bone’s birth certificate states that she is “illegitimate.”
Her mama, having always hated to be called “trash,” had been ashamed that the birth certificate said “illegitimate.” Anney had gone to the courthouse for a new certificate, and though she’d torn the bottom and claimed that the rip had been an accident, the clerk looked through the county records and issued her a second certificate that also listed Ruthe Anne as “illegitimate.” She’d protested, and he’d shamed her. Not long after, her mother had met Lyle Parsons, a sweet young man with whom she’d had another baby, Reese. Lyle died in a car accident, and by 19, Anney had been left alone with two children.
After Lyle dies, Anney gets a job at the White Horse Cafe, a local diner. Although she would have made more money at a bar, she would have had to leave the county in order to do so, and she needs to remain close to her family for help with childcare. She is a popular waitress; her easy smile wins her many fans among the diner’s regulars. Her smile, however, masks an inner pain: She deeply misses Lyle and is worried that she will never be happy again. She is also still deeply ashamed that her daughter’s birth certificate is marked with “illegitimate.” She repeatedly tries to obtain new, altered copies of the document, but the county officials refuse to change it. The town, too, is aware of the child born to unwed parents, and she is teased mercilessly. When the courthouse burns down in an accidental fire, she burns her own copy of the birth certificate, hoping that she will finally be able to procure an emended one. One day at the diner, her brother Earl brings in his coworker Glen, who is quite taken by Anney. A few weeks later, he returns to the diner several more times, and Anney agrees to let him come over to meet her young daughters. Based on her looks, he tells her, he is sure that her girls are beautiful.
Chapter 2 Summary
Bone is now five. Her mother still works at the diner, so her Granny babysits Bone along with many of her other cousins each day. Bone is a quiet, observant girl. In her large extended family, she loves her uncles best. Although they are often loud, violent, and known to like their liquor, they are always kind and gentle with Bone, and she worships them. She observes that men, much more so than women, are forgiven for their bad behavior, and she wishes that she had been born a boy. She wears her uncles’ castoff clothing and takes their lessons to heart about how to hold and use tools and weapons. Of all of her uncles, Earl is her favorite. Earl is charming, and he has a reputation as a ladies’ man. He’d been married to a devoutly Catholic woman and had been genuinely surprised when she’d left him, citing his serial infidelities. Although it hadn’t stopped his womanizing or dampened his charm, the divorce had affected him and become a secret hurt that he carried. Bone also loves her mother and her aunts. Bone finds a deep sense of peace in the hours she spends with her mother and her aunt Alma as the two women color and cut each other’s hair. She cannot help but notice the family resemblance between the two, and both women point out that Bone, too, has the family features. Of her father, Bone knows very little. He is rumored to live nearby and have many children with women he never married scattered throughout the county in addition to the six he has with his legal wife. No one in the family has a particularly high opinion of him.
Chapter 3 Summary
Anney is still working at the diner and has been dating Glen for two years now. Although Glen is not a drinker and is not prone to violence like Bone’s uncles, people do talk about his temper. Bone observes that there is a silent, humming energy about him. In spite of his small stature, he has unusually large hands; Bone notices how often her mother seems to reach for them. He proposes to Anney spontaneously one day, in a fit of such heightened emotion that he cries and bangs his fists on the hood of the car. She accepts. Her family does not approve of the match, in part because Glen’s family is “stuck up,” but also because Granny thinks that there is something wrong with him. She tells Anney that she does not know Glen as well as she thinks she does and advises against marriage. Anney defends Glen and explains to her mother how much he loves her and her daughters.
Chapter 4 Summary
Anney is set to marry Glen during a spring marked by unusual and frequent thunderstorms. Her family, including Granny and her aunts Maybell and Marvella, against the match to begin with, see the stormy weather as a bad omen and continue to object to the marriage. They cite Glen’s intensity and the fierceness of his attachment to Anney as worrisome signs and argue that he doesn’t so much love her as want to possess her. At the wedding, Bone sees how pleased Glen is to be marrying her mother, and she observes a shortness of temper in him that she has not seen before. When it is announced that her mother is pregnant, Glen is thrilled. He is sure that it will be a boy. Earle, Beau, and Nevil remain neutral in their relations with Glen, but none of them fully endorses the man who married their sister. At this point, Glen’s extreme preoccupation with having a son and his possessive attitude towards Anney and her children only add to their previous assessment of him, and they agree that something about Glen is “not right.”
The night that Anney goes into labor, Glen brings Bone and Reese to the hospital and waits with them outside in the parking lot. The hours pass, and Glen grows increasingly nervous. He pulls Bone into the front seat with him, gives her a Coca-Cola, and moves her onto his lap. Then, he proceeds to sexually assault her. She cries out in pain, and when it is over, feels scared and confused. He brings the girls inside, where they find out that the child, a boy, has died. Glen is angry and upset. In the weeks that follow the death of the baby, who is named Glen Junior, Anney’s sisters take care of her at home. Glen’s rage increases and he becomes more and more possessive of Anney, Reese, and Bone. He announces that they are moving, and although Anney’s family expresses worry that he is trying to isolate Anney and her children, the four move into a rented house further from any of the Boatwrights.
Chapter 5 Summary
Bone, Reese, and Anney are now living with Glen, further away from Granny and the rest of the Boatwrights than they are used to being. Glen also attempts to isolate them emotionally from the rest of their family, explaining that Granny is not to be trusted and that his own family is superior and should now be considered just as much their kin as Anney’s mother and siblings. He insists that the girls call him “Daddy,” and although Reese is young enough to be pleased by that request, Bone thinks that the word sounds strange in her mouth. She often notices Glen watching her, and his large, nervous hands make her anxious. Glen struggles at work, and the family cannot usually pay its bills. They move often, and Bone is frequently forced to adjust to new schools, classmates, and teachers.
Glen is envious of the bond between Bone and Anney. Bone perceives that he wishes that the two were not so close. He is also hurt by Reese’s interest in her late father, and she has to hide the picture that she keeps of Lyle so that he will not get upset. Glen interferes in Anney’s relationship with Reese’s grandmother and insists that Reese is owed part of the woman’s estate. Although Anney seems nervous, she lets Glen handle the negotiations, and although the family does give her $250, Glen angers everyone whom he talks to.
Earle loans money to Anney because the family has so little, and Glen becomes visibly angry. He shouts at Anney, scaring her and the girls. When he apologizes to Bone, Glen grabs her arm so hard that he bruises her. Anney tells him that it’s okay, that she understands that he just doesn’t realize his own strength.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
This first set of chapters introduces the Boatwright family and establishes Glen as an abuser and antagonist. Through the symbol of Bone’s birth certificate and its depictions of Anney’s waitressing job, it establishes the importance of The Intersections of Class and Gender as a theme. Much of the description is centered on Anney and Bone’s extended family, and The Strength of Familial Bonds is already evident.
One of the first scenes in the novel focuses on Bone’s birth certificate. Anney is in a car accident on the night of Bone’s birth, and because Bone’s father has already been run out of town by her family, there is a dispute over the spelling of his name and whether or not he deserves to be listed as the child’s father. Bone is subsequently labeled “illegitimate.” When Anney wakes and discovers this, she is mortified. This moment is the first use of the slur “trash” to refer to various members of the Boatwright family, but it will not be the last. Anney has long felt the sting of this pejorative. Her repeated attempts to alter Bone’s birth certificate underscore how much she hates the label. In this section, Anney is seen largely through the lenses of class and family: She is preoccupied with the way that class impacts perception of her and her family, and she begins to work tirelessly so that her children (first Bone and then Reese) will have a better life than she had as a child. She desperately wants to lift herself and her children up out of poverty, and she attempts to do so through the only job that she can find, waitressing at a café. Although she would have made more money at a bar, there isn’t one within easy driving distance of her family, whom she needs to help babysit. This situation speaks to the theme of The Intersections of Class and Gender, for Anney’s options are limited both by her poverty and by the meagre work opportunities available to women without connections or education in the area.
The Strength of Familial Bonds also emerges as an important theme. Bone dearly loves her uncles and emulates them in both behavior and dress. She enjoys wearing their castoff clothing, tries to mimic the way that they use and hold their tools, and enjoys a close relationship, in particular with her uncle Earle. Her uncles, although rough around the edges and hard drinking, are kind and caring men, and they return Bone’s affection. Bone’s aunts, too, are an important part of her young life, and she recalls afternoons spent with them and her mother while the women did one another’s hair. These are touching moments, and they illustrate how an activity born out of necessity (not being able to afford professional haircare) becomes an instance of treasured family time and bonding between sisters and their children. What this family might lack in money and opportunities, it makes up in love.
This set of chapters also introduces Glen, Anney’s husband-to-be. His characterization is especially important as it foreshadows the damage that he will do to the family. The summer that he and Anney marry is characterized by an unusual uptick in stormy weather, and this can be read as a symbol for the “storms” that Glen will bring to their family. Glen, unlike the Boatwright men, does not drink or get in fights. And yet, there is an emotional volatility that lurks just below the surface. He has a temper, and Anney’s brothers see his lack of control over his emotions as a character flaw. They observe: “Glen’s quiet, but you make him mad and he’ll knock you down,” and the “Boy uses those hands of his like pickaxes” (61). Glen’s hands, an anxious, ever-moving set of appendages, become a symbol of his abusive personality and of the way that his rapid mood swings are a sign of impending danger.
His danger to Bone is apparent almost immediately, when he tells Anney that he’s sure that her daughters will be as beautiful as she is. Although this comment could be considered innocuous, it takes on a particular foreboding within the context of his sexual abuse. He first subjects Bone to sexual assault on the night that Anney is in the hospital giving birth to his son, and the experience is so jarring that Bone is not sure what happened. But in the months and years that follow, he continues to pay her unwanted attention. She observes, “he was always watching me, it seemed” (62). Although he does not repeat his original assault, he subjects Bone to a continuous string of inappropriate hugs and holds her tightly to his body in a way that makes her distinctly uncomfortable. His predatory relationship with Bone is not the only sign of his true character. He is also manipulative and controlling, and he seeks to isolate Anney from her family not only geographically, but also by discrediting her mother, sisters, and brothers. He encourages her to see them in a negative light, hoping to become the only important person to Anney and to her children.
