Salvaging Vulnerabilities: Climate Crisis and Marginalised Bodies in Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones

This chapter explores the interconnections and importance of the natural and the personal through the bodies and experiences of the Batiste family in Salvage the Bones, particularly through the vulnerabilities of Ward’s protagonist, Esch. It draws on environmental theories of embodiment and marginalization by focusing on the dynamics of family and kinship relations, gendered labour and violence, class barriers and racialized economic inequality within the novel, while also examining the disproportionate effect of the climate crisis and environmental degradation on marginalized bodies. Esch’s experience is deeply tied to the land, with her understanding of selfhood growing out of the place and space which she inhabits. The literal sturm und drang (‘storm and stress’) within the novel asks us to consider the multi-layering of vulnerabilities experienced by those in the Gulf Coast, particularly nuancing the experiences of Esch as a young, disenfranchised, pregnant Black woman. Through discussions of motherhood, unconventional kinship relations, and storms, this chapter argues that, though often absent in the discussion of environmental literature, Salvage the Bones is a critical text for our understanding of contemporary Black experience in and alongside the environment, recognizing the specific and urgent interconnections of identity and place for Black bodies.