The Lovely Bones discussion

Has anyone come up with a meaning behind the unusual last name Salmon? Of course I thought of Kilgore Trout but can see no connection. I know that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar but...

I wondered that too! And couldn't come up with anything either. Maybe she just wanted an unusual name for an unusual story. And maybe that's it - a mark of unusualness. Like brace yourselves folks, what follows is going to be jarringly unusual. Just a thought.

It is a very, very, very old name. I believe that in the Bible (the Old Testament), there is a Salmon who is somehow related to Jesus. I may be wrong, but maybe this will trigger something?

Ange wrote: "It is a very, very, very old name. I believe that in the Bible (the Old Testament), there is a Salmon who is somehow related to Jesus. I may be wrong, but maybe this will trigger something?"

My english teacher's last name is Salmon so I didn't see it as 'unusual' but perhaps it was because the story was unusual.

Salmon also means peace :)

My maiden name is Sammons....I've seen lots of variations...

Ange wrote: "Salmon also means peace :)"

Actually, I like that. It might be that the author was suggesting that Suzie and the rest of her family do eventually become "at peace" with what happened.

Stephen wrote: "Actually, I like that. It might be that the author was suggesting that Suzie and the rest of her family do eventually become "at peace" with what happened."

Yeah, I like it too. And isn't there a peculiar way that salmon swim - direction, I mean? I really am going to take the time to do a little research when I have a bit of free time! I could be thinking of different fish - there's too much useless knowledge stored in my brain ;)

yeah, I think it's salmon that swim upstream to spawn...

Don't salmon also, at the end of their lives, return to the place where they were born?

Actually, they are said to spawn at the same place that they are born. Hmm...

Living in Alaska I get to fish for some of the best Salmon. They return to the place of birth to spawn and then die.

http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?s...

Salmon Name MeaningEnglish and French: from the Middle English, Old French personal name Salmon, Saumon, a reduced form of Salomon (see Solomon). HH
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Ange wrote: "It is a very, very, very old name. I believe that in the Bible (the Old Testament), there is a Salmon who is somehow related to Jesus. I may be wrong, but maybe this will trigger something?"
The story of the loaves and fishes of course. Fish are a recurring symbol in Christianity for faith.

Faith and peace.... if you think about it, and you don't have to think about it very long, both of those apply to the story believably. =]

The man in the bible was Solomon.

Mandy wrote: "Living in Alaska I get to fish for some of the best Salmon. They return to the place of birth to spawn and then die."


do they go upstream to do so, or was I just confused?

It was the choice of Alice that she chose such a bizarre name but I did notice it is rather strange: I mean Suzie Salmon.

Of course it was a choice, but considering an author's choices can be informative and interesting. Ever read Moby Dick? It starts with the three word sentence "Call me Ishmael" Three little words and yet they can convey so much. 1) the narrator is not necessarily telling us the whole truth (Note he doesn't say "My Name IS Ishmael" 2) Ishmael is a biblical name for the older outcast son of Abraham. Is the author suggesting that he's an outcast or just that he's knowledable about the bible or what? 3) It's also worth noting that it was the Ismaelites that carried Jospeh off into a long and eventually rewarding bondage in Egypt. Perhaps Mellville is suggesting that reading his tome will be long and yet rewarding?

So I like considering why authors choose the names that they do, but of course sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Kirby wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Living in Alaska I get to fish for some of the best Salmon. They return to the place of birth to spawn and then die."


do they go upstream to do so, or was I just confused?"

Yeah, Salmon go upstream to do so.

I believe a cigar is a cigar in this case, but perhaps its just to show that Susie is different than other girls and gives her a uniqueness to her character. That's what I think.

I like it Kendyl,I think you're right.

Thank you, Lisa :)

Stephen wrote: "Ange wrote: "Salmon also means peace :)"

Actually, I like that. It might be that the author was suggesting that Suzie and the rest of her family do eventually become "at peace" with what happened."

I agree.

That's also a very good point. I didn't know that Salmon meant peace. Very prespective.

i think its to relate him to the fish.

Stephen wrote: "Has anyone come up with a meaning behind the unusual last name Salmon? Of course I thought of Kilgore Trout but can see no connection. I know that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar but..."

I believe it is because salmon in particular are considered to be symbolic of renewal, as they return to their spawning grounds then perish.

As someone with a fish for a maiden name, I didn't pay much attention to the last name "Salmon." Now that the question's been raised, I'm reevaluating the possibilities for a fish name. Rather than the peaceful feeling some got, I'm struck by the violent imagery of a fish that has been caught. With a line through its lip, it flops in protest and gasps for air. Susie has been removed from everything she knows to be true and thrust into a new environment, and the Salmons have been shoved into a world without their daughter. Both are trying to reconcile their former existence with this new one. At least, that's what I can take away from it.

love it Amanda. Also the struggle up a waterfall to get home again? She really does sort of move on to another phase of death by the end. It's a thought. Ditto the Salmon family. They struggle horribly, are nearly destroyed and come to a new peace and find their new or old 'homes' - in family, in forgiving and moving on, in vocation.

Maybe she wanted to use alliteration and Suzie Smith was too boring...

I think that the meaning being peace is the reason it was used.

This being my name, I thought I'd comment. In the first book of the New Testament, Matthew, there is a genealogy of Jesus in which Salmon is mentioned first, and further on, Solomon. Both are commonly rooted, but I did find strong hints that Salmon implied " shade," or " a covering." Whatever the case, "peace" is good.

This type of thread is why I love GR! It's been a while since I read Lovely Bones, but other than just thinking Suzie Salmon an odd name, I gave it no more thought. I should know better as I learned from Edgar Allen Poe that literary names can have deep significance.
Thanks.

Kirby nailed it. Her soul must travel upstream, against the flow and spawn before letting go of the living world. The murderer is a hunter, his traps are like native American fish traps. He dies in winter, having failed to spawn before the freeze.

TBONE wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Has anyone come up with a meaning behind the unusual last name Salmon? Of course I thought of Kilgore Trout but can see no connection. I know that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar ..."

LOL, no I didn't give "Salmon" any thought as a last name and found this disc. kind of amusing bec. locally there is a family named "Salmon"-- he is a former state legislator, I think doing PR for many years now. He and his wife have a big family of children, grands, and adopted children (most now adults) from around the world which I only know bec. my husband recvs. their Christmas card every year. They appear to be sincerely a happy family.
Also we locally have "Trout" families--- Mike Trout the baseball player is from one of them but apparently there are "separate" Trouts who aren't related ( or maybe they were centuries ago) bec. I asked a Mr./Mrs. Trout at my church if they were related to Mike Trout and she said "I wish!" :-)

It's a form of the name Salomon.

I'm usually the eternal pessimist, but I like to think that they are named the Salmon's because it means Peace.

I was thinking that maybe because a salmon is a very common and abundant fish it was supposed to symbolize that what happened to Susie could have happened to anyone. And if you read the first few pages, Susie's attributes that are described are all very common, but the things she says she's interested in are very specific to her and fairly niche (chem club, chess club), so it might also mean that she is trying to set herself apart from everyone else even though she's seen a very ordinary girl.Alice Sebold