Although Junior in Salvage the Bones is only 10 years old, his character is not only complicated but also provides complexity to the rest of Ward's novel. His birth resulted in the death of his mother, leaving the rest of the family motherless and alone to fend for themselves in the Pit. Without a mother and no peers close to his age, the youngest Bastiste brother was forced to grow up faster than the average 10-year-old. Despite this, Junior's brothers and sister still see him as a child and never seem to acknowledge that he has experienced horrors that have forced him to grow up well beyond his years. Throughout most of the novel, Junior constantly tries to prove to Randall, Skeetah, and Esch that he is, in fact, mature enough to be involved in their lives. However, when Katrina hits the Trench, there is a clear retraction of the courageous and mature boy Junior has proven himself to be, leaving the reader only a frightened shell, traumatized by the stormy waters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Junior has a much deeper understanding of his surroundings than his siblings are aware of. When all the Batiste brothers decide to go to the basketball game to support Randall, for example, Junior is immediately aware of Esch's distress after the bathroom incident with Manny. At this moment Esch describes Junior's actions: "I want to let Junior lead me around the building to the gym, so I walk slowly, but then he walks slower so he doesn't leave me, and it takes 10 minutes to walk in front" ( 147).She goes on to say, “She puts her arm around my elbow as if she were escorting me” (147).Although Esch expects Junior to run away with the other children to the gymnasium, leaving her alone, he is not acutely aware of the pain that Manny made her experience just a few minutes earlier in the bathroom, and while Esch may not consider him mature, he is clearly able to grasp what is happening around him. Junior's short life has been full of adversity, as he has been exposed to much more than the average 10-year-old. Dad, who is often drunk and uninterested in Junior's education, places the burden of his younger son's life on his older children more mature activities in which his older brothers participate. While the family and Big Henry are on the road to Randall's basketball game, Esch says, "I'm happy to be sitting in the backseat by the window of the car, Junior's bony butt wiggling in my lap, Skeetah in the middle of pulling the joint, Marquise beside him at the other window, opaque through a cloud of smoke” (140). Esch's casual description of events seems to mask the strange reality that, instead of protecting Junior from illegal substances, they are open to smoking marijuana just feet away from him inside a locked car. Despite all of this, Junior is still considered the child and is treated as if he is oblivious to what is happening in the Pit. In one of the novel's most illuminating moments, after Junior finds Dad's severed finger with his wedding ring still in place, he exclaims, "I know his hand, and his beer, and his medicine... I've seen him." when he destroyed it. I found it… I see things!'” (185). It is clear that this moment is the result of growing frustration on Junior's part due to his family's belief that he is simply a naive child, with no ideas or concerns about what is happening around him. Hurricane Katrina brings out a different side of Junior, while he no longer tries to be.