"Rule of the Bone" by Russell Banks

The story of a sexually abused teen

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks tells of the story of a sexually abused teen drug addict named Chappie who becomes mature through a series of ordeals and his figurative rebirth. The story of Chappie is one of a troubled outlaw coming to term with the consequences of his own actions. Throughout the story, as Chappie encounters new people, such as The Adirondack Irons, I-Man, and Doc, his senses of morality, crime and drugs alters from an egocentric philosophy to an altruistic belief.

Chappie is socially insecure and doesn't know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Since his mother and stepfather are both alcoholics and neither chooses to form a strong positive emotional attachment to Chappie, the only way for him to get the attention that any kid would crave is to do things so startling that they have no choice but to converse with him, hence the Mohawk haircut and the nose and ear piercing.

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He exhibits no self control over both drugs and money, evident by his over lavish spending of his mother's collection of valuable coins on the former until "none of the plastic bags had more than a few coins inside" (11) and is more or less controlled in his actions by Russ, whom he idolizes and depends on for a while after he gets kicked out of his house since "Russ and the biker guys were [his] only friends" (8). He has no sense of consequences and is reckless in his actions, as expressed when he "aimed the rifle at [Willie] and pulled the trigger.

..the safety was on and the trigger was locked." (14). He would have shot his cat if not for the safety and indeed did shoot his parents' bed after he unlocked it. He feels that the difference between right and wrong is that "what was right was what you could get away with and what was wrong was what you couldn't" (73). He knows intuitively that there is a difference between dealing meth and weed, but he doesn't know what the difference is. Chappie always takes things for granted and values short term ecstasies over long term plans, typical of a modern teenager.

The transformation from Chappie to Bone

The transformation from Chappie to Bone begins after the departure of Russ from the Ridgeway's home. Enraged and feeling betrayed, Chappie plans for his departure back to the school bus. The first evidence of the emergence of Bone is when Chappie "took out my nose ring... and my earrings too, and laid them on the counter" (130), something that he has not done for nearly a year. Furthermore, Chappie snips off his Mohawk so as to not stand out. He then takes out Mr. Ridgeway's gun and, this time with considerations, shatters a window. The broken window symbolizes his broken relationship with his past self and those that he thought he knew. He completed his transformation by emerging out of the window and telling the world his new identity, hollering out the broken window "The Bone! The Bone! The Bone rules!" (133).

The story of Bone

Bone, unlike Chappie, is mature and conscientious of both his actions and the actions of others. After meeting I-Man and converting to Rastafarianism, he realizes his independence and develops a sense of self and purpose. He can now do things as he likes and is able to go against authority figures such as Doc once he realized that "Doc didn't really own Evening Star, he only thought he did" (367). He understands now that he has the same independence as Doc, but he does not follow in his father's footstep, since he realizes that Doc is immoral, a conman, and a drug addict. When offered to stay at the Mothership and live like a king, he denies that which would have given him power. He wants to grow up, work, and "think about [going to] college someday" (349), so that he can have a better life than the ones he witnessed, specifically the lifestyle of Doc and his stepfather, Ken. While living with Russ, they would "bust our brains with bongs and brews until we ran out or passed out" (236). After living with I-Man and learning from him, Bone now only smoke marijuana for the sake of religious practices and as a relaxant. He explains this by saying "...with no stress about getting more you find out pretty fast what you need and you never need to smoke more than that" (236). The addict like behavior he once exhibited has faded away along with his relationship with Russ. When he sees Russ getting in the car of Evening Star, he does nothing to stop him, thinking "it would have been me, if it hasn't been for Sister Rose and I-Man and everything I'd learned about myself" (384), leaving Russ to the whim of the powers that be. He now sees Russ as not someone to be revered, but someone who has put on a cloak of ignorance once worn by Chappie.

The story of Bone is a tale of figurative rebirth and transformation, and the changes in his view of morality, drugs, and crime among other things. The actions of Chappie is not unlike that of hundreds of other urban youth that loiter back alleys, malls, and parking lots, panhandling, dealing drugs, shoplifting, and committing other transgressions just to survive in a world where their parents have abandoned them, not necessarily physically, but mentally, but rarely do those children experience the joy and wonder of the world and the lessons that Bone has experienced and learned from I-Man, Rose, and Bruce.