Susie Salmon, "like the fish", introduces herself and gives the reader all of the background information of her murder. Susie had been taught to respect authority and was forced to talk to Mr. Harvey as he approached her in the cornfield on her way home. Mr. Harvey lures her into a hiding place he made in the ground, and Susie, giving him the benefit of the doubt, followed him down into the place. In this hole in the ground, he proceeds to rape her; after he rapes her he makes her say she loves him then he kills her. Susie talks about where she is and her heaven, she realizes that all the people she sees on the field are all in their own version of heaven and it just fit with hers. Susie get her own roommate, Holly who has an interesting story of her own; and she also gets an intake counselor that is the same age as her mom. However, Susie cannot have what she wants most which is to help everyone know the truth. Susie watches the people she loves change drastically; her father turned into someone she did not know. He awoke each morning as the man he had always been until his consciousness allows the knowledge of Susie's death to sink in. He is overcome with guilt that he wasn't there when his daughter needed him most.
Quote:
“She had a stare that stretched to infinity. She was, in that moment, not my mother but something separate from me.”
(Sebold, 43)
Reaction:
Susie's mom is a mysterious character that no one really knows much about. After Susie's death, her mother was very distant; it was almost as if she was a completely different person. Ever since Susie's death she kept more to herself and she was never really stable. She was very pessimistic and lost hope in ever finding Susie back when they first found her elbow. Susie's father said he mother had "Ocean Eyes" which Susie thought stood for the blueness but it actually stood for something much deeper. Her father was referring to the bottomless of her soul; no one truly knew what she felt or how she was dealing with things. However, Susie doesn't understand this until after she passes because she sees everything differently but this idea scares her because her mother isn't just her mother but someone she doesn't know of.
