About Character[]
George Harvey is a sadistic serial killer known for raping and murdering at least seven girls. He eventually gets killed by falling off a steep hill after trying to lure another girl into his car.
Early Life and Death[]
He tells us some of what she sees. We learn that his mother was a desperate woman who taught Harvey to shoplift and even rob victims of roadside fatalities from alongside the road. At one point Harveys father abandons his mother in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. His family, before and after his mother disappears from it, seems pretty transient.
As a kid, Harvey is ashamed that his father doesnt have a normal job. He cant tell people that his father “[works] in the desert [building] shacks of broken glass and old wood” (8.3). Still, his father passes along his knowledge of building to his son. We can see that Harveys father is an abusive person, but are not provided with details.
We can say, with certainty, that Harveys childhood was almost the complete opposite of Susies. In Harvey, we see a yearning for an idealized home, and family, in his chosen profession: building dollhouses, idealised homes in miniature. His success gives him what his fathers building couldnt, financial security. Harvey makes enough to buy that family home in the suburbs but does not have any intention of filling it with a family of his own. Rather, it becomes the disguise that allows him to infiltrate the world he covets.
There are lots of allusions to Othello in the novel. Othello, unlike Harvey, is a largely sympathetic character, whose jealousy is fanned by the evil Iago, until he allows it to overcome him, and he murders his beloved wife. Since none of the other characters in The Lovely Bones exhibit jealousy or murderous tendencies, we can think of the allusions as clues pointing to jealousy as a motivator for Harveys hideous behavior. He cant have the idealised, loving home and family, so he builds structures that let him infiltrate and attack it.
After Mr. George Harvey got rid of Susies body by dumping it down a big sinkhole and filling it with cement, about six months later, George Harvey tried to encounter another young woman named Clair by saying that he will take the girl wherever she wanted to go. Clair said that she was not interested, he then responded by saying that it is not safe for a young lady to be walking around in the cold like that, she then fired back at him saying “piss off”. George Harvey was in shock. A large icicle then falls on his shoulder and as he tries to shake it off, he ends up falling down the ravine and he broke his back and neck on a tree, killing him instantly and brutally.
How did Jack know Harvey killed Susie?
There he meets Ray Ruana Singh’s mother and confides in her that he knows who killed Susie. Susie looks at Mr. Harvey and can recall her childhood when her mother left the family.
FAQ
Is George Harvey alive?
How does the guy die in Lovely Bones?
