Economic Hardship - The Ozarks and Winter's Bone

When people are facing economic adversity, what choices do they have? One option, is to turn to family and friends for help. But what happens when an entire community is struggling?

I was forced to think about these questions and others when I watched the Sundance Film Festival Best Picture Winter's Bone. It is based on the book by Daniel Woodrell written in 2006. The film tells the story of a community in the Ozarks by focusing on one particular family. Sadly, some residents of the community have turned to cooking crank (methamphetamine) to earn a quick profit.

After seeing the movie, and listening to this NPR interview with the book's author, I am really interested in learning more about the history of the Ozark region and how people there have dealt with economic hardship. Although the book is fictional, it is inspired by events that the author has experienced while living in the Ozarks. I have only listened to excerpts, but I do plan on reading Winter's Bone the novel. The character descriptions from the interview are captivating. Here is an eerie description about one of the main characters, Uncle Teardrop:

"Uncle Teardrop was Jessup's elder and had been a crank chef longer, but he'd had a lab go wrong and it had eaten the left ear off his head and burned a savage, melted scar down his neck to the middle of his back. There wasn't enough ear nub remaining to hang sunglasses on. The hair around the ear was gone, too, and the scar on his neck showed above his collar.

Three blue teardrops done in jailhouse ink fell in a row from the corner of the eye on his scarred side. Folks said the teardrops meant he three times done grizzly prison deeds that needed doing, but didn't need to be gabbed about. They said the teardrops told you everything you had to know about the man, and the lost ear just repeated it. He generally tried to sit with his melted side to the wall."

You can hear author Daniel Woodrell read this description at 3:20 in the interview. If you have seen the movie or read the book, I would love to hear your thoughts.