Rule of the Bone

Rule Of The Bone is a 1995 novel by Russell Banks. It is a bildungsroman about the 14-year-old American narrator, Chappie, later dubbed Bone (named for a tattoo that he gets), who, after having dropped out of school, turns to the guidance of a Rastafarian Jamaican migrant worker.

Structure

The novel is split into two halves, the first of which concerns his family struggles in America, and the second takes place in Jamaica. Some critics, such as Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times, describe the book as descending from other novels about rebellious teens, such as J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book contains frank descriptions of drug use such as ganja and sexual abuse by his stepfather Ken, which coupled with the age of the narrator, has contributed to the book's controversy.

Characters

Chapman Dorset (a.k.a. Chappie, Bone) is the protagonist of the book. He is a 14-year-old drug dealer living in upstate New York with his mother and his abusive stepfather. He runs away from home to live with his best friend and a biker gang. Bone, although a hardened drug dealer on the outside, is revealed to be quite compassionate, wanting to free an abused girl named Froggy from her captor and to return his mentor I-Man back to his home.

I-Man is one of Bone's best friends. He is a Rastafarian migrant worker living illegally in upstate New York, in an old bus that he's fixed up. He flies home to Jamaica with Bone, and is eventually killed by Jason.

Paul Dorset (a.k.a. Doc) is Bone's estranged father who left his mother when Bone was young, then moved to Jamaica. He has a sexual relationship with Evening Star, and stays with her in the Starport/Mothership.

Rose (a.k.a. Froggy) is a little girl who was sold by her mother to Buster Brown, a pedophile. She is from Milwaukee. Bone saves her from her captor and returns her to her mother. In the end, her mother tells Bone that she died shortly after returning to Milwaukee.

Russ is Bone's best friend. He is a 16-year-old school dropout and stoner. He worked at a Video Den before he was fired for stealing from the cash register.

Evening Star is an American woman in Jamaica who sleeps around quite often, with Doc, I-Man and Bone all together. She owns a house called the Starport, or as Bone calls it, the Mothership.

Black Bart is a mall cop who busts Bone for shoplifting.

Buster Brown is a pedophile who bought Froggy from her mother. He is also the manager for a rap group called "The Soul Assassins".

Ken is Mrs. Dorset's husband and Bone's stepfather. He is sexually abusive and an alcohol abuser.

Jason is a Jamaican man who killed many people in the Starport, including I-Man.

Wanda is Russ' manager from the Video Den.

Captain Ave is a ship captain who used to work with I-Man and Bone.

Bruce is the leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang, Adirondack Iron. Russ and Bone lived in their clubhouse for a while after Bone first ran away from home.

Interestingly, the bus where Bone stays and eventually meets I-Man is the same bus prominently involved in Bank's novel The Sweet Hereafter, and the two 'Bong Brothers' are mentioned as being Nicole Burnell's brothers.

External links

New York Times Review