Ree's Facade Dissipates in the Face of Utter Hopelessness

“She was strangely still and starting… on the bridge until she understood that her eyes searched for a body beneath that ice, and she crouched to her knees and cried, cried until treats ran down her chest” (70).

Until this bleak scene, Ree has maintained a stiff façade that inhibits her expression of the sadness fostered her strangled life.  It is not until she realizes obstacles of her search that she completely breaks down.  After visiting both Little Arthur and Thump Milton, Ree’s notion that the Dolly family tie will encourage those kin to assist her in the search for Jessup is shattered.  In searching for her father, or a dead body under a frozen river, prompts Ree’s realization that she knows little that will help her in locating her father; she has no idea where Jessup and she does not surely know whether he is dead or alive. The crumbling of this cornerstone belief in the strength of kin accompanied with Ree’s realization of the lack of knowledge she has to help her with her search dissipates her façade and she breaks down in the cold frozen environment.  The setting’s coldness parallels the Dollys’ lack of warmth; the weather serves as a metaphor that further underscores Ree’s hopelessness.