Do the Boatwrights move beyond the cycle of abuse?

The Boatwright legacy is a force of nature, and the family members can never truly escape the toxic patterns. Anney, initially dedicated to rising above the family's reputation, becomes forever entangled in it when she becomes a single parent at 15. Likewise, Bone seethes against the public contempt for the Boatwrights and vacillates between embracing her family and longing to escape from them. At the end of the novel, Bone reflects on her mother's life and faded ambitions before concluding that she has already been pulled into the Boatwright's tragic destiny. She says, "I was who I was going to be, someone like her, like Mama, a Boatwright woman" (Allison 309). For Bone, being a Boatwright is both a well-worn comfort and a curse.