Family Relations in "Bone"

                The familial relationships in the novel Bone are rather interesting and complex. It is hard to understand where Leila, the main character, stands in her relationships with both her mother and father. She does not make it very clear if there is a preference, or if she is closer to one parent or the other. She does however make it known what characteristics of her parents she dislikes, but it never goes much farther than that. Similarly, it is unknown how Leila’s parents feel about their children. It is obvious that the family is mourning the loss of their middle child and that they don’t approve of their youngest daughters lifestyle all the time. However, it is interesting to look at the kind of relationship that has developed between Leila and her parents as the first half of the novel progresses.

                It appears as though Leila has become the “adult” from a very young age. Her parents don’t get along as well as they used to, and readers are able to sense a bit of animosity amongst the parents. Leila’s mother and father often go back and forth using Leila as the middle man. Since the parents live in separate houses they use Leila as a kind of messenger which she strongly dislikes. Leia also has had to be a messenger in the literal sense in that her parents often used her to translate for them when dealing with people that could only speak English from the time that she was a young child and onward. This weird relationship that Leila has developed with her parents is affecting her on several levels, especially after the death of her middle sister. The parents often asked Leila why she didn’t know that anything was wrong, and why didn’t she see the signs? This seems a bit off, since usually when a child commits suicide most parents immediately place the blame on themselves. Why would they place the blame and ask such bizarre questions to Leila, who is merely the sister? Isn’t it the parents’ responsibility to know what kinds of issues are going on in their child’s life, and be the people that try and prevent such issues as suicide? This absence of parental responsibilities has caused Leila to grow up very quickly and often times she doesn’t have a parent to turn to because she has now become the parent figure in their nuclear family.