Esch and The Golden Fleece

           Crushes come in many different sizes. They range from a small peck on the cheek to a grand snug hug. In the book Salvage the Bones written by Jesmyn Ward, Esch is a young girl in love. Throughout the book, Esch describes her love life using the mythological story of The Golden Fleece. Esch compares herself to Medea and she compares her lover, Manny, to Jason. On page 7 Ward writes: "I wondered if Medea felt this way before she walked out to meet Jason for the first time, like a hard wind come through her and set her to shaking. The insects singing as they ring the red dirt yard, the bouncing ball...". This passage was important to put at the beginning of the novel because it shows how much Esch has to lose since she is very emotionally invested in Manny. In The Golden Fleece, the first time Medea sees Jason, Cupid strikes her heart with an arrow of love. Esch is comparing how she feels when she sees Manny to being shot in the heart by Cupid's arrow. That kind of emotion towards someone is not a small peck on a cheek but rather it's a grand snug hug. It's important to note Ward's choice of using this particular allusion to make the reader understand how much adoration Esch has for Manny. Using this mythology foreshadows Manny and Esch's relationship. If the reader knows this myth, they know that at the end Medea kills Jason. By using this allusion so early on in the novel creates an anticipation for the reader. The reader knows from the start that Esch and Manny's love journey is not on flower paved road to a beautiful wedding. The reader is going to be very interested to find out what happens at the end of the novel because they know Esch has to do something equivalent to Medea murdering after Jason betrays her. It reveals that some of the central themes are going to be love paired with both betrayal and revenge.

Depiction by Don Lawrence. It a poster from a history merchandise site. It describes how Jason only thinks about himself and winning because this picture shows none of the people who helped him on the journey on getting the fleece and yet he gets to hold it up proudly like a trophy.

I feel like this is Esch at the end of the book because like Olaf, she's been hurt and impaled by people in her life. At the end of the book, although she is mentally and emotionally wounded, she knows she can get back up and fix herself like a snowman. Olaf is still smiling even after he's been impaled and Esch is internally smiling because she hasn't given up on herself.