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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Limitations of Family
Bones and All takes a cold, hard look at the cultural institution of the family, highlighting the difficulties and complexities that emerge from the relationship between siblings, and of parent and child. Janelle raises Maren alone, without any support from her estranged father. In fact, Janelle refuses to answer any of Maren’s questions about her father. The two live together in isolation, moving from place to place in order to conceal Maren’s cannibalism. Though Maren can sense her mother’s unhappiness, she is still entirely dependent upon her. Deeply ashamed of her cannibalistic actions, Maren’s first action after committing each murder is to confess to Janelle, childishly hoping that her mother can take care of everything and make the problem go away. While Janelle does indeed stick by her daughter, shielding her from the consequences of her actions, Maren believes that she does so out of a feeling of obligation rather than love. Janelle’s sense of parental duty is ethically questionable; in protecting her daughter, Janelle enables Maren to kill at least six other children. Further, Janelle’s decision to protect her daughter ultimately ruins her life, preventing her from settling down, making friends, or advancing in her career.
For Janelle, the role of parent traps her in a deeply unhappy mode of life and forces her to make unethical decisions. In the end, the bond tying parent to child is not strong enough to keep Janelle from abandoning Maren once she believes that her daughter is old enough to fend for herself. Ultimately, theirs is only one of many examples of destructive familial relationships presented in Bones and All. Andy, a Walmart employee, tells Maren about his abusive father, Lee’s childhood is marked by his mother’s poor decisions and personal failures, and Maren’s father, Francis, was adopted into a cold and unloving family. In Bones and All, the social institution of the family fails to provide security, comfort, and love.
The Ethical Consequences of Free Will
One of the central questions raised by Bones and All is whether Maren bears moral culpability for her cannibalistic acts. Her first act of cannibalism is committed when she is a mere infant, and she is unaware of what she has done and is unable to remember the incident later. Throughout her childhood, she kills and consumes several boys, despite her efforts to restrain herself and resist her hunger for human flesh. Each time she engages in cannibalism, she does so more or less unconsciously, only regaining full consciousness after the deed is done. She feels that she is an unforgivable monster even though she is not in control of her own actions and lacks the free will to stop. At one key point in the novel, she decides that the only responsible course of action is to kill herself, though she is blocked from her suicide attempt by Lee. Maren is amazed to discover that Lee is able to control his urges, only eating those who he feels deserve to be killed. Though she considers Lee to be a better person than her because he doesn’t kill “innocent” people, his greater ability to control his actions also increases his moral culpability. Where Maren cannot stop herself, Lee actively chooses to kill and eat others. The novel contrasts these two morally ambiguous characters who exhibit different degrees of free will.
Truth and the Possibility of Forgiveness
Maren experiences profound guilt for her cannibalistic impulses, and she is haunted by the individuals whom she has killed and eaten. When she and her mother report a burglary in a police station, Maren sees a sign that says, “The truth shall set you free,” and she feels that the police will be able to instantly read her guilt on her face. Throughout the novel, Maren weighs the risks and advantages of coming clean and confessing to her crimes. While driving with Lee, she is captivated by a Christian sermon delivered on the radio by a man named Reverend Figtree, who promises forgiveness for those who confess to their sins. Maren fantasizes about going to the church and being absolved of her crimes, though Lee mocks her interest in religion and argues that forgiveness isn’t possible for anyone whose sins are as great as theirs. Later, she drafts a letter addressed to the police, in which she claims responsibility for various murders and disappearances. However, after meeting her father, who is incarcerated in the Bridewell mental care facility, she burns her confession note. The truth, she concludes, will not set her free, but instead, will likely result in her institutionalization at a similar facility. Later, after consuming Lee, she feels that his acceptance of her nature has purified her of her shame and guilt.
