supernatural impact on the people she left behind is the driving force behind the narrative.

Beyond this, Sebold also uses irony. While Mr. Harvey murders Susie, his final victim becomes his murderer: Susie causes the icicle to fall that startled Mr. Harvey, causing him to slip over the edge of the ravine. This irony is twofold because not only does the victim become the murderer, in a way, but also the crime will go undetected for “weeks before the snow in the ravine melted enough to uncover him.” The concealment of his body is analogous to his disposal of Susie’s, and the weapon (icicle) simply disappears. Both sights of death were in the natural world: one below the ground, and one as the result of a fall. The parallels between Susie and Mr. Harvey’s deaths are ironic but also serve as closure for both Susie and the reader.

There are a couple of literary techniques used in Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

First, Sebold uses symbolism. Symbolism is where an author uses objects, places, or characters to represent something bigger, or deeper, than the thing itself. There are three main symbols in the novel:

• Susie's cap: represents Susie's mother's love for Susie.
• The Monopoly Shoe: represents Susie's "removal" from life
• The necklace (a broken heart in two pieces): represents the love between Lyndsey and Samuel, and that their hearts are broken by the death of Susie.

Second, the novel exists as a Bildungsroman novel. A Bildungsroman novel is a coming-of-age story that depicts a young person's formative years. While one can argue that Susie's life is over, and her growth ended, she does "live on." She spends time coming to understand what has happened to her and what she needs to do to move on. Another way one could support the idea of the Bildungsroman novel can be supported by the way the novel follows Lyndsey's growth after the death of her sister.

One of the techniques that is used by Sebold in this very different tale is that of combining foreshadowing and flashback. On the whole, the narrative follows a traditional plot structure, however, the events are not strictly chronological. The novel begins with the murder of Susie, but in order for the reader to understand everything that happens next, they have to be informed about certain background events, which are presented through the use of flashback, which allows Susie to return to when she was alive before the beginning of the story. For example, in Chapter Three, she takes the reader back to her eleventh birthday:

On the morning of my eleventh birthday I had woken up very early. No one else was up, or so I thought. I crept downstairs and looked into the dining room, where I assumed my presents would be. But there was nothing there.

This flashback allows Sebold to introduce the camera into the narrative, which of course becomes important as later events demonstrate.

In addition, there are elements of foreshadowing. For example, in Chapter 1, Susie tells the reader that she died and also indicates that a dog brought her elbow home. However, her parents are only actually told about this weeks later. Foreshadowing and flashbacks are used to create interest and tension.

Two literary elements that readers should pay attention to in Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones are stream of consciousness and paradox.

First, readers should pay attention to the literary element of stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness, simplistically, is a person's thoughts occurring as a continuous flow, as the person thinks about the events happening to them in the present (even if the events actually took place in the person's past). In the novel, Susie Salmon ponders the events surrounding her death and her life, in "my heaven." Since she is in heaven, Susie's main part in the action, given that she is no longer an active participant, is one of a reflective observer. Since much of her character derives from her thoughts on what is happening, her stream of consciousness is of the utmost importance.

For the most part, Susie recounts her life after she has died. This idea presents another literary element: the paradox. A paradox is something that seems impossible but is still true. Therefore, the paradoxical element within the novel exists as a dead person, Susie, tells the story of both her death and her life after death.

The first noteworthy literary element in The Lovely Bones is probably the point-of-view.  First person limited or third person omniscient are two of the most common perspectives from which novels are written.  It is somewhat rare for a novel to be told from a first person omniscient point-of-view.  This is because it is rare that a character would be privy to all information.  Sebold accomplishes this by using a narrator who is dead.

The other two elements I would encourage you to examine are flashback and foreshadowing.  Essentially, this story is a mystery.  It not told in chronological order.  The techniques of foreshadowing and flashback are used to heighten the suspense and mystery.  As a result, they keep the reader interested.  This is certainly a book that once started, is very difficult to put down until it is finished.