Ruth dies. Anney confesses that Ruth had practically raised her, and that Ruth loved having babies so much because, though she’d always felt ugly, a child was proof that some man had found her attractive. Anney is visibly upset over the death of her sister, and Bone too finds the loss startling and upsetting.

As the family is preparing to attend Ruth’s funeral, Glen locks Bone in the bathroom and beats her. She resolves not to cry out, and her mother frantically pounds on the door as blows rain down on Bone’s legs. Afterwards, her mother asks her why she had to provoke Glen. She spends the night before the funeral with Raylene and tries to make sure that Raylene does not see the wounds on her legs. At the funeral, several of her family members (including Earle) are drunk, and Bone herself drinks both beer and whiskey. Drunk for the first time, she is not careful enough to hide the evidence of Glen’s beating, and Raylene sees her wounds. Her uncles beat Glen bloody outside while she listens to the sound of his body being thrown against the walls of the house.