Explore how Sebold presents the character of Buckley in this extract.

The extract comes from later in the novel when Buckley has become a teenager. At this point in the narrative, Buckley is creating a safe place for himself, a ‘den’. This ‘den’ reflects one of the major motifs in the novel of hidden places (Mr Harvey’s wigwam, the sinkhole etc.)

In the opening sentence of the extract, Sebold uses the noun phrase, “empty terracotta pots”. The use of the word “empty” may reflect the feelings Buckley has towards missing Susie. The use of the dynamic verb “hauled” in the second sentence gives us the impression that this is not an easy task. This is in reference to the forgotten “boot scraper” which may reflect the fact that Buckley does not like to leave anything forgotten i.e. Susie. In order to construct his ‘den’, the noun “fort” is used which is being built with two huge “boulders” both of which reflect strength. From this we can see Sebold is trying to present Buckley as a stronger character and a young man who has had to overcome adversity. As Buckley is the youngest, people would tend to have lower expectations of him. Susie’s modal verb “unexpected” shows us that she is unsure of Buckley’s motives and this is coupled with Samuel’s interrogative “how are you going to build a roof?”.

In the second short paragraph, Buckley’s attitude towards Hal is shown through the phrase, “Buckley looked at him in wonder”. At this point in the novel Hal has replaced Susie and, to some extent, Jack Salmon as Buckley’s role model. This is reinforced in the next paragraph with the phrase, “so one hot night my father looked down and did not see his son anymore”. The opening of that phrase, “so one hot night” reflects the fantasy writing style Sebold uses to show Susie’s heaven. The dynamic verb “nestled” is used when Buckley is inside his ‘fort’ which reinforces the idea that his secret space has become a place of safety. Hals’ role as his co-conspirator is reinforced through the use of the co-operative verb “obliged”.

In the final paragraph, Buckley’s desire to be a superhero is demonstrated through the semantic field of superheroes (proper nouns, “Avengers”, “X-Men”, “Wolverine”, “Hulk” and “Spidey”). Throughout this paragraph, he expresses his desire to take on the attributes of different superheroes. Or be it through Susie Salmon’s omniscient narrative. Her judgement on him is seen through the use of the superlative “oddest” when describing how often he thinks about her at the “oddest” moments. Through this we can see Buckley’s weakness which is missing Susie. Buckley tries to seek strength in superhero stories and associates strength with unrealistic powers as shown in the collocates “weak men”, “eye beams”. Perhaps he is trying to erect a false barrier to protect himself from what he really thinks and that is missing is mother, this is shown in the metaphor “of his heart turning to stone” and that his feelings shift “from heart to stone, from heart to stone”.

This passage demonstrates the way that Buckley is dealing with the loss of his sister, the subsequent absence of his mother and the distance from his father. What Sebold is showing us is the effect that the loss of a sibling can have on the forgotten children. Buckley wants to be a hero but this is hindered by the loss of his sister and distance from his parents.