Salvage the Bones

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Trouble the Water and Salvage the Bones: Narratives of Hurricane Katrina”

In this activity, students will watch the Academy Award–nominated documentary Trouble the Water, produced and directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, which shows a young couple surviving Hurricane Katrina. Students will then engage in a discussion that connects the documentary to specific details from the novel.

In Salvage the Bones, Hurricane Katrina upends the characters’ lives and lays bare the realities of systemic and environmental racism in their community. In Trouble the Water, the duo of Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott Roberts document their real-life experiences as they withstand the storm’s impact in their abandoned Ninth Ward community. This story provides important context for the novel and helps supplement an understanding of the characters, plot, setting, and theme. You will watch Trouble the Water, and then engage in a structured discussion with your peers before creating a visual representation of the connections between the film and the novel.

• As you watch the film, write down five observations or questions that you will be ready to present to the group during the discussion.
• After the film, share your thoughts and listen to the thoughts of others. Consider how the documentary enhanced your understanding of the novel.
• Link what you learned from the documentary to a character, plot line, setting, or theme from Salvage the Bones.
• Create a visual representation of how the documentary supplements your understanding of that aspect of the novel. Your visual representation may be a slideshow, a poster, a piece of original artwork, a collage, etc.

Teaching Suggestion: Consider pausing the film two or three times during viewing to allow students to gather their thoughts and process with their peers. As you pause, consider asking students to check in verbally with a peer to talk out their thoughts, specifically about how they are seeing connections between the documentary and the novel.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who need support with organizing their thoughts, consider providing a graphic organizer for note-taking while watching the film. This graphic organizer might contain the unit’s main themes and a small list of major characters, setting locations, etc.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text throughout your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Esch is the only female character in the novel, and she is surrounded by various male figures who try to take advantage of her.

• What is Esch’s relationship to various male characters, and how do these relationships impact Esch’s identity? (topic sentence)
• Analyze Esch’s relationships with two or three male characters and explain how those relationships impact Esch’s sense of self. Cite three direct quotes from the text to support your response.
• In your concluding sentences, connect your ideas to the theme of Attitudes Toward Women.

2. The novel is organized into chapters in which each chapter represents a day leading up to Hurricane Katrina.

• How does the novel’s structure help convey the theme of Nature’s Destructive and Life-Giving Power? (topic sentence)
• Evaluate the novel’s structure and how it emphasizes how the storm is both a destructive force and a powerful source of renewal. Cite three direct quotes from the text to support your thoughts.
• In your concluding sentences, consider the tone of the novel’s conclusion and explain how it contributes to the structure of the novel.   

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the role of the storm in the novel. In many ways, the storm is a character unto herself. Her presence is felt throughout the entire novel, which culminates with her finally arriving and then dissipating. Analyze the role that the storm plays in creating a distinct tone and mood in the novel. Consider how the storm, despite its destruction, ultimately contributes to the hope that Esch feels at the story’s conclusion. As you compose your essay, cite direct evidence from various points in the novel to strengthen your points of discussion.

2. Consider the character of Big Henry. He offers Esch more compassion and support than any other male character in the novel outside of Randall and Skeetah. Additionally, he seems to have a unique way of understanding her. Evaluate Big Henry’s character development through the ways he relates to Esch. How does he help shape Esch’s lived experience and sense of self? As you compose your essay, cite direct evidence from the text to support your thoughts.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Read the following passage: “My eyes wanted to search for Manny so badly the want felt like an itch on my temple, but I kept walking.” What does it show about Esch’s feelings for Manny?

A) She finds him interesting but is surprised by her feelings.

B) She dislikes him and refuses to return his attention.

C) She likes him but doesn’t want him to know how she feels.

D) She fears him and goes out of her way to avoid him.

2. How does Skeetah respond when the two people who were involved in a car accident need help? 

A) He is annoyed.

B) He is helpful.

C) He is comforting.

D) He is disgusted.

3. Which character is compared to Medea in Chapter 2? 

A) China, because she is full of revenge

B) Esch, because she has special powers

C) Skeetah, because he is full of passion

D) The woman in the grass, because she is forsaken

4. What does Esch’s desire to name the sick puppy show about her personality?

A) She is naively optimistic.

B) She is kind and tender.

C) She is prone to anger.

D) She struggles with anxiety.

5. What chases the siblings from the neighboring farm?

A) A man

B) A bull

C) A rooster

D) A dog

6. Read the following passage from Chapter 5: “Before I became pregnant, my stomach had been almost flat, the belly button an outie: an eye squeezed shut.” Which literary device does the author use here?

A) Simile

B) Personification

C) Metaphor

D) Hyperbole

7. In Chapter 5, Esch says, about Manny, “This is love, and it hurts. Manny never looks at me.” What does this passage show about Esch and Manny’s relationship?

A) It is one-sided.

B) It is abusive.

C) It is tender.

D) It is forgiving.

8. What is the impact of the fight at Randall’s basketball game?

A) The police come to break it up.

B) A bystander in the stands gets hurt.

C) Junior gets scared and runs away.

D) Randall doesn’t make the team.

9. Which of the following passages best shows the unique relationship between Skeetah and China?

A) “He don’t even have to drag her.”

B) “China kisses the side of Kilo’s face.”

C) “She stands at his right leg, ears up.”

D) “She’s mine, and she fights.”

10. What best describes Daddy’s tone of voice when he responds to Randall’s concern about combining alcohol and his medication?

A) Understanding

B) Dismissive

C) Frustrated

D) Conciliatory

11. What item does Junior take from the scene of Daddy’s accident?

A) The finger

B) The chain

C) The ring

D) The dirt

12. What best describes Manny’s response to Esch after she tells him she is pregnant?

A) Dismissive and cruel

B) Kind and supportive

C) Uncertain and distant

D) Angry and aggressive

13. The following passage from Chapter 10 contains which type of figurative language? “I watch Manny getting smaller and smaller, and my ribs break like dry summer wood.”

A) Metaphor

B) Simile

C) Hyperbole

D) Personification

14. What does the use of the word “maw” in the following quote from Chapter 11 emphasize about the storm? “Randall climbs out and into the hungry maw of the storm.”

A) Its noisiness

B) Its high water

C) Its inevitability

D) Its ferocity

15. Which best describes the tone of the final scene of the novel?

A) Bitter 

B) Dreamy

C) Optimistic

D) Nostalgic

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. How are the chapters of the novel structured, and how does this structure contribute to the book’s tone?

2. What is the impact of the stylistic choice to italicize Skeetah and China’s thoughts in Chapter 8?