Dragging his bone over town...

Michael Ondaatje´s book, Coming Through Slaughter, does not only expose the life of cornet player Buddy Bolden, but as well describes the Jazz Age in such way that you feel as if you had been there. In the novel (somehow a biography), the author uses a very unique and particular form in order to transmit a message, a form which is not linear and keeps us readers traveling from place to place and from time to time. This is definitely not coincidence, since by doing this Ondaatje is bringing Buddy back to life.
Buddy Bolden used to be an extremely talented jazz player, but his life was totally unstable. He never settled down in a place, and as much as he tried he kept on moving around, leaving the ones who cared about him and looking for new experiences. In effect, Ondaatje´s structure serves perfectly as an example to understand Buddy´s constant indecision and his emotions towards living. In order to infer all this ideas, the author incorporates small verses of some songs that somehow transmit Bolden´s feelings, just as he did in reality. The following song is found in the book and it certainly important.

Nora´s song

“Dragging his bone over town. Dragging his bone over town.
Dragging his bone over town. Dragging his
bone over town. Dragging his bone
over and over dragging his bone over town.
Then and then and then and then
dragging his bone over town
and then
dragging his bone home” (Ondaatje, pg.17)

As the title of the song suggests, this indeed relates to Bolden´s wife, Nora Bass, and her constant instability with Bolden. As the lyrics say Buddy is always “dragging his bone over town”, meaning that he is frequently moving from one place to another. Somehow, he appears being lost in life and careless about everything. Bolden moves from place to place, leaving Nora and his beloved ones behind, until finally de begins “dragging his bone home”. It is really amazing how Ondaatje by using various resources, including the use of song verses, can leave us readers with such a wide and interesting perspective of Buddy Bolden and of the beginnings of jazz.