This Greek vase is called a Red Figure Krater, which reflects the firing technique Greeks used to create their pottery until the 3rd century BC. Medea is depicted killing her sons in this image, which specifically dates back to 340-320 BC. 

This picture of a hurricane symbolizes Esch at the end of the novel, both literally and metaphorically. Esch is the eye of the storm, the calm in the middle of chaos. Despite the destruction around her as a result of hurricane Katrina, (the death, starvation, and crumbling infrastructure) Esch has found a calm in herself. She becomes independent from Manny and realizes that she can mother her child regardless of the turmoil around her, just as the eye of a hurricane is a break in the storm unaffected by the heavy winds and rain surrounding it.  

“Daddy is shoving his way inside, the sound of the wood like a gunshot ricocheting through the room so that I think he’s broken the hinge, but the door stays upright. The cobwebs leave a gray trail and there’s a leaf stuck in his hair. His T-shirt is dark at the pits and the neck and down the middle of his back. His boots hit so hard on the floor that he sounds like he's going through the rotted wood. He’s not much bigger than us. Is this what Medea saw, when she decided to follow Jason, to flee her father with her brother? Did she see through her father’s rich robes to the small-shouldered man beneath?

I think that this mention of Medea is important because it says a lot about what Esch thinks of her father. She is looking at her father, wondering if Medea felt the same way when she decided to leave her father and brother for a man she loved much more, Jason. Esch is curious to know if Medea was able to “see through her father’s rich robes to the small-shouldered man beneath”, which relates back to Esch’s feelings for her father. Even though he is not a king and does not wear fancy robes, she is able to see through him and knows that he is not as tough as he makes himself out to be. This passage about Medea helps the reader to understand how little Esch thinks of her father.

This is a mixing vessel made from terracotta. It has Medea departing on her chariot with the dragons painted on it. The artist is the Plicoro painter and it was created late 5th-early 4th century bc. It is titled the Medea Krater, and is now in the Cleveland museum of art.

It think that this picture of Rosie the Riveter best describes Esch by the end of the book. The picture is a sign of female empowerment and being confident. By the end of the book, Esch becomes confident and is growing into a strong, independent young woman. She realizes that she does not deserve to keep being rejected and used by Manny, and knows that even though the biological father does not want to be there for her and her baby, she has many father figures surrounding her, so the baby will have many dads.

"I gotta go.” He turns, shows me the back of his head, his hair, his shoulders. Now I see it, now I don’t. “I’m pregnant.” He stops in profile. His nose is like a knife. “And?”…..."It’s yours.” “What?” “Yours.”

Manny shakes his head. The knife cuts….”I ain’t got nothing here,” he says. Manny blinks at me when he says it. Looks at me head-on, for the second time ever. “Nothing.” (203)

 This conversation Esch has with Manny closely parallels Medea’s own rejection from Jason after the retrieval of the Golden Fleece and their marriage. Ward connects Esch and Medea through their care and devotion to the men they love, both of whom use and abandon the two girls for their own selfish purposes. Furthermore, just as Jason intends to leave Medea as “a woman in exile with helpless little children (Mythology 128)” , Manny deserts Esch with their child, leaving the baby unprotected and fatherless. Both Esch and Medea’s lovers are in denial of their own faults as well, with Manny refusing to admit he impregnated Esch and Jason believing “[Medea’s] exile was her own fault only (Mythology 129).” This passage reflects a point in the novel where Esch can not stand Manny and his apathy towards her, and finally takes a stand against him. As a result of this conversation she attacks Manny physically, similar to how Medea kills Jason’s bride as revenge when she learns he wants to exile her. This passage highlights a turning point for Esch, where she realizes Manny’s detachment and becomes independent, imitating Medea’s independence from the man that was using her. 

"I tried to read this morning, but I stopped in the quest for the Golden Fleece, distracted again by
Medea, who can only think of Jason, her face red, her heart aflame, engulfed by sweet pain. The goddess struck her with love, and she had no choices. I could not concentrate. My stomach was its own animal, and thoughts of Manny kept surfacing like swimmers in my brain; I had my own tender pain"(p. 109).

This Passage in Salvage the Bones, shows the similarities between Esch and the mythical Medea. While in the tale, Medea can only find herself thinking of Jason as he is the man Medea loves. Esch's situation is one very similar, as she finds herself thinking constantly about her love Manny. In this passage, we not only see that the way they act toward Jason and Manny is similar, but more we see that they both have a "sweet" or "tender" pain towards the two men.


This is a vase located in the Naples Archeological Museum that depicts Medea distracting the dragon. A purposeful diversion so that Jason on the right can take the Golden Fleece from the tree.

"Tears run down my face like water and I cover my face with my shirt but it is too hot and I can't make it go away. I can never make it stop never nothing. When Jason betrayed Medea to exile so he could marry another woman, she killed his bride, the bride's father, and last her own children, and then flew away into the wind on dragons. She shrieked; Jason heard"(p. 205).

This passage relates the story of Medea and Esch because they had both lashed out in anger at their lovers because they saw they loved another woman. This comparison reveals the way Manny and Esch, and Jason and Medea feel about each other. Esch and Medea both love the men, and expect them to feel the same way, but both Jason and Manny no longer care about them, so they move on to different women. Later when Randall asks if he should beat up Manny, it reinforces the theme of family and Esch's family sticking together.

This picture is of Medea's chariot of dragons, which she was gifted from her grandfather Helios.

Welcome to the Class Blog!

Welcome to the class blog. This is where you will carry on the class conversation in the digital realm. Think of it much like an extension of the classroom, where you will have the opportunity to share your ideas, questions, opinions, and creative writing. Some basic rules:

1. Always be polite and respectful when commenting or posting.
2. If you're starting a new idea or question, always post. When responding to a classmate, create a comment to start a conversation thread.
3. Have fun, and post to the blog whenever you have something to share with the class. Don't just wait for me to assign a post. You can blog about anything relevant to the course--be it something you come across on the internet or in another area of your life that connects to what we've been reading or talking about. If you have some idea or question you've been mulling over on your own, go ahead and post that. If you see a connection between a song you love and a character we're reading about, post that. The possibilities are limitless.

The blog is all about making connections between us and between texts (whatever those "texts" may be). Connect away!