73 pages • 2 hours read
Daniel WoodrellWinter's Bone
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 25-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary
Ree slowly wakes to the sounds of shovels. She feels herself lifted and thrown onto new ground that smells like a barn. She quickly ascertains that she has lost two teeth and fumbles to find them amongst the straw. Mrs. Thump and the other women speak to each other above her, agreeing that Ree must have inherited her mother’s insanity since she dared to come back to Thump Milton’s house. Ree feels the weight of such accusations and mumbles, “I ain’t crazy, I ain’t crazy” (132) in response. Mrs. Thump reprimands Ree for not listening to her warning to stay away, but Ree replies, “I can’t listen. I can’t just listen” (132). As Ree begins to move, she realizes that other members of the community are also in the barn listening to their conversation.
Megan approaches Ree and sadly asks what they are going to do with her. When Ree rather flippantly retorts that they could either kill her or help her, Megan sorrowfully tells her, “I tried to help you some the other day, and this is what come of that” (133). Megan leaves Ree’s side as Thump Milton enters the barn and approaches Ree as she lies on the floor.
Thump Miller stands over Ree, and she observes the youthful movement of his aged frame alongside his trenchant eyes and angled face. He asks Ree to speak her piece. Embarrassed, Ree realizes that she is lying in her own waste and vomits before summarizing her situation for Thump Milton. After she asks for help to prove her that her father is death—not necessarily who killed him or why—Thump Milton leaves the barn with Mrs. Thump and several others.
As she lies on the barn floor, she wonders if she’s lying in the same position as her father did. Her ruminations are interrupted when Little Arthur notes the appearance of Teardrop’s truck. Teardrop enters the barn and ignores Little Arthur as he searches for Ree. Teardrop asks the crowd who hit Ree, and Mrs. Thump evasively replies, “No man here touched that crazy girl” (136), before confessing that she and her two sisters had beaten her.
Thump Milton reappears with several armed men and asks Teardrop to explain himself. Teardrop declares that he “stands for” (137) Ree and will claim the consequences of her actions. He explains that while he said nothing in defense of his brother, Jessup, and dissociated himself from Jessup’s mistake, Ree isn’t her father. Instead, Teardrop describes her as “a girl who ain’t goin’ to tell nobody nothing’” (137). Teardrop declares that he is taking Ree with him, and warns them against ever hurting Ree again.
Chapter 26 Summary
As Teardrop and Ree drive away from Hawkfall, he pulls into an orchard obscured from direct view in order to take out several guns. He hands one to Ree, “For if they come” (139). As they sit there, Teardrop uses her shirttail to staunch the blood flowing from the wounds around her mouth. He then tells her what he knows regarding Jessup’s disappearance. He prefaces the tale with the disclaimer that Ree now owns him, because he claimed her and the ramifications of any actions she might take with this information. Teardrop then proceeds to explain how Jessup “turned snitch” because he could no longer face going to jail and leaving Ree, her brothers, and her mother alone. Jessup began leaking information to the deputy, Baskin. However, Teardrop emphasizes that Jessup never gave Baskin information regarding Rathlin Valley men, just the Hawkfall valley men.
Teardrop turns the conversation away from Jessup’s death and tells her that if he could change any day in the past, he would never have killed the first man he killed because, as a result, Thump Milton and the rest of the Hawkfall valley men have been waiting for an opportunity to confront Teardrop. Teardrop believes that this might be their opportunity because he knows that if he learns who killed Jessup, he will one day attempt to avenge his brother. This, in turn, would sanction his own death. With this logic in mind, he implores Ree never to tell him the identity of Jessup’s killer if she ever discovers it. Ree squeezes his arm in silent acceptance of this deal.
Ree is greeted at home by Gail and her brothers, who are dismayed and frightened by the sight of her injuries. She asks Gail to help her wash and burn her clothes.
Chapter 27 Summary
Gail washes Ree and mourns her pain and her injured body. Ree compares her throbbing body to a song with many voices that all rise toward the chorus as she’s bathed.
Chapters 25-27 Analysis
These three chapters are largely concerned with Ree’s changing relationship with Teardrop. Teardrop’s arrival at Thump Milton’s house signifies an emotional connection and sense of responsibility on his part that Ree had doubted before. Moreover, the reader is given further insight into Teardrop’s complicated character. Though he embodies the Dolly way of life, he also knows how to use the various rules to one’s advantage. As such, he prepares Ree to continue the search for Jessup’s body. Their conversation also provides the reader with a sense of foreboding, when Teardrop asks Ree not to tell him the identity of Jessup’s murderer. His warning conveys his personal ideology—that such an act must be answered in blood.
Teardrop’s conversation with Ree further emphasizes Jessup’s own moral ambiguity. Teardrop’s assurance that Jessup would not have betrayed his own Dolly kin and that love had been his weakness muddies Ree’s judgment of his character. Teardrop also provides Ree with further understanding as to the evolving nature of relationships throughout the two valleys. Ree often sees such relationships and futures in static, fatalistic terms which are at odds with Teardrop’s understanding.
Ree’s arrival at home also illustrates her current physical and mental weakness. After being washed by Gail and taken care of by her family, Ree finds herself questioning her own mental stability. Mrs. Thump’s assertion that she must be crazy like her mother has hit on one of her primary fears, and after being beaten Ree finds her determination crumbling.
