Carli Crowley
Professor Cline
English 102
25 March 2012
Bree and Gail
Weather
it is the never far off idea in men’s minds of two women making out or Ree and
Gail are truly so close as sisters that sleeping beside each other naked,
swimming naked and rubbing each other’s shoulders is a common everyday occurrence.
The relationship between Gail and Ree is an underlying current throughout
Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. The reader is drawn to wonder where Woodrell is going
with this theme. Is Ree and Gail’s relationship typical of children of the
Ozarks? Is it grown of children of methamphetamine using parents? Is it a
special bond, something born of a lifelong friendship?
Woodrell starts off Ree and Gail’s relationship with
a great deal of Sweet Peas and hugging and shoulder rubs. The bond between the
two is obvious by the level of comfort Bree finds with Gail that she lacks with
everyone else. In their first encounter of the book Gail picks cockleburs from
Ree’s hair. These are pretty standard best friend actions. After Gail’s husband
refuses to let her use the car she throws herself on the bed in frustration and
Ree gives her a foot and calf massage. Woodrell then moves onto the scene where
Ree decides to play with Gail’s hair. “Ree leaned to pick at her hair, pinched
between the long riddled locks, brushed strands back with her fingertips,
lowered her face and inhaled the smell ( Woodrell 36 ). She starts off picking
at imaginary cockleburs in her friend’s hair but then leans in to smell Gail’s
hair. This is an act that her friend Gail seems uncomfortable with. “Gail said
in a low voice, “what you doin?” “ (Woodrell 36 ). Ree says pick sticky burrs;
you have a mess of sticky burrs. Gail responds by saying “no I don’t. She
pushed Ree’s hands away put did not raise her eyes” (Woodrell 36 ). She then
tells Ree she has to go, pleading tiredness and the need of a nap. It is
obvious that she is slightly uncomfortable with the actions of Ree.
Interestingly enough there is very little said about
the underlying theme and relationship of the two, Ree and Gail, anywhere on the
internet. Very few people seem to see or want to talk about the other theme in
Woodrell’s book, the relationship of Ree and Gail. Maybe even more importantly no
one wants to acknowledge this dynamic of the book. It is important to note that
the makers of the film did not even want to add this aspect in to their movie.
Did they believe they wouldn’t have the box office hit if they explored this unconventional
relationship between the two girls? This to most of the world is an odd little
bit of weirdness Wodrell wrote into his book. No one seems to know what to
think of it, so it is best ignored. Actually a few did. Macabre Republic says “
her intimate quasi-lesbian relationship with her best friend Gail” (Macabre ).
Macabre labels the relationship as quasi-lesbian, and later on in her article
goes on to say “the solace she seeks in Gail’s arms only underscores the lack
of acceptable make figures in Ree’s life ( Macabre ) So Macabre believes this
relationship between Gail and Ree is a result of the lack of responsible worthy
male figures in Ree’s life. It is as though the fact that Ree and Gail have this
interesting relationship is a direct correlation between her lack of acceptable
male figures in her life and the availability of Gail and her friendship.
One of
Woodrell’s greatest defining moments of Gail and Ree’s relationship is Ree’s
flashback to their younger years when the two of them were experimenting with
kissing and making out. He goes into fairly graphic detail. “and Gail acting
the man roughed up her breasts with grabs and pinches, kissed her neck,
murmuring and Ree said, “Just like that! I want it to be just like that!” (
Woodrell 87 ) and “there came three seasons of giggling and practice, puckering
readily anytime they were alone, each being the man and the woman, each on top
and bottom, pushing for it with grunts and receiving it with sighs ( Woodrell
87). Interestingly enough the entire
time Ree was imagining kissing a man so much so that “ Ree found herself
sucking on the wiggling tongue of a man in her mind, sucking that plunging tongue
of the man in her mind until she tasted morning coffee and cigars ( Woodrell 87
).
After
Ellen on the other hand obviously feels the relationship to definitely lesbian “
I mean the author references a time when they were younger and experimented sure
but that’s not just it. Even before the reader finds this out I thought perhaps
there was something going on here that was unspoken in just the way the girls
interact and how touchy feely they are. Also, Ree who is an extremely guarded character
just opens up to Gail completely. There are also references to sleeping
together …… naked” (After Ellen ). Gail gets sent back to Ree’s house late at
night because her husband thinks she has come home too late. She obviously
comes with no other clothes as he met her at the door took the baby to his
parents and sent her out. Her boots are muddy and her clothes are most likely
dirty, she drops them in a pile on the floor. Once again she seems nervous, not
quite at the comfort level Ree is with the way their relationship was before. “She
fidgeted on bare feet and rubbed at the skin of her shoulders and arms, looking
down at the bed. Ree held the quilts pulled wide, patted the sheet “ ( Woodrell
101 ). It is as if Woodrell would like to portray Ree as this young girl who
still lives in this world where they were best friends, a world where they were
so touchy feely and slept together naked and all of this felt so normal. Gail
on the other hand has had a baby and is now married and is starting to feel
awkward in their closeness.
It is
plain to see that the author is striving for us to see that there is defiantly
something in the way that Ree thinks about Gail. “ any evening spent with Gail
was like one of the yearning stories from her sleep was happening awake.
Sharing the simple parts of life with someone who stood tall in her feelings “
( Woodrell 100 ). Gail is the only person who has ever been a friend to Ree it’s
quite possible that Gail is the only person who has ever loved Ree. In return
it is probable that Gail is the only person Ree has ever truly loved as well.
She has her family but they are more of a responsibility to her than anything
else. She never truly had a mom or dad that loved her and put her first in
their life, she has had to be the one to look after them. Ree seems to only
find comfort from her crazy world in her music and her friendship with Gail. “
Ree’s feeling could stray from now and drift to so many special spots of time
in her senses when listening to that voice, the perfect slight lisp, the wet
tone, that soothing hill fold drawl” ( Woodrell 82 ). The only happy moments in
her life where she was free to be alive unfettered by the stresses and demands
of her crazy family life seem to center around the moments she and Gail have
spent together. It is no wonder that she clings to Gail so desperately, that is
the only happiness and peace she has experienced in her life.
In the final portrayal of the girls
relationship Gail takes Ree to a spring with a pond of freezing water to help
heal her body of all the bruises and pain inflicted upon her by the hateful
women. They climb naked into the pool together in the freezing water. After
Ellen believes this to be a completely lesbian part of the book the part that
really shows you where Woodrell is headed with his thoughts. “But then after
some time of living with Ree, Gail takes Ree swimming/wading in a spring…. Naked
and when Gail says she has to return to her husband Ree responds with “you didn’t
like it? You gonna tell me you didn’t like it?” “ To which Gail says “I liked
it, but not enough”. This is pretty clear right? “ ( After Ellen ). The intent
of the author is unclear. Is Ree asking about skinny dipping, living together,
or just the freedom of being away from an over bearing husband? It is clear
that Ree really loves Gail and would be happy if they could be together more.
She has Gail and her wellbeing in mind, when it comes to the point of having to
sale off the families coveted wooded land she says “If I’ve got to sell these
woods Sweet Pea, I’d want it to be to youin and yours” ( Woodrell 161 ).
Works Cited
Woodrell, Daniel. Winter’s
Bone. New York: Little Brown and
Company 2006. Print.
Nazare, Joe. Book Vs Film Winter’s Bone. Macabre
Republic. Web. 03 Mar. 2012.
UP. Anyone read Winter’s Bone. After Ellen.
Web. 03 Mar. 2012
