Study Questions
1. How is Aunt Raylene different from the other Boatwright women?

2. What happens at the barbeque to which Bone has been invited?

3. Describe Bone’s relationship with the incarcerated Uncle Earle. How does she feel about his law-breaking behavior?

4. How does Bone get revenge on Tyler Highgarden and Woolworth’s?

5. Was Aunt Ruth pretty? Why does Bone identify with her?

Answers
1. Aunt Raylene has never married and has no children. She is self-sufficient. She neither relies on men nor is hurt by their indifference or promiscuous behavior. The other Boatwright women have their hands full with many children.

2. Shannon Pearl accidentally sets herself on fire and burns alive in front of everyone.

3. Bone remains close to Uncle Earle. The Boatwright men often go to the “county farm” for one minor offense or another. Bone is proud that Earle has managed to outsmart the guards and procure a blade.

4. Bone breaks into the Woolworth’s with her cousin Grey. The two ransack the store and then pass word to others that the front doors are open.

5. Aunt Ruth was not pretty. Bone believes that she, too, is ugly and so identifies with Aunt Ruth.