Abigail Salmon in The Lovely Bones: character arc

If you trace the development of this character very closely through the book, you have to admire Sebold's skill and sensitivity in conveying the emotional rollercoaster this character endures.

Abigail is not as likeable as some of the other characters. She cannot grieve in understandable ways like Jack who does all he can to seek justice - to the point of obsession it seems - and who is totally committed to the emotional needs of his remaining children.

Abigail is plunged into a depression and anger that makes her deflect her real sadness and pain into "merciful adultery" - a quotation from the book - and then actually flee from her family and look into the "hopeful unfamilar" for relief from her unresolved grief.

Because Susie as a narrator has such an "Eye of God" advantage, she can range backwards and forwards in time to show us the factors in Abigail's life that predisposed her to this sort of reaction. Susie remembers capturing her on her new Kodak camera as a person, not a mother. A former masters student who never really accepted the limitations of motherhood and being a 70s housewife, she was always somewhat lost. We see her as totally different from her ultra-feminine mother with whom she had to fight "tooth and nail" to go to college and have an academic career. She says to her mother before she goes away: "Do you realise how alone I've always felt?"

There is a link here to other aspects of women's lives which run through the book: the rape of Susie; Harvey's attacks on other women; the principal's inappropriate thoughts about Lindsey.

More importantly I feel, is the character "arc" that Abigail experiences and the way Sebold has created this. A character arc is the status of the character as it unfolds throughout the story, the storyline or series of episodes. Since the definition of character arc centers on the character, it is generally equated as the emotional change of the character within the narrative. Characters begin the story with a certain viewpoint and, through events in the story, that viewpoint changes. Often this change is for the better, but it can also be for the worse or simply different. (from Wikipedia)