King of Ashes

The Carruthers crematory serves as a motif that contributes to the theme of The Weight of Family Loyalty and Generational Trauma. Many defining moments for the novel’s plot and characters take place at the family business, which is described as “a dusty red-brick monolith set against the crumbling skyline of the city of Jefferson Run” (10). Because Roman and Dante cause the accident that kills their mother at the crematory, the building becomes the focal point of both the Carruthers’ loyalty to one another and the trauma that weighs them down; as their father Keith says, “This is ours. We have to bear this. No one else” (305). Keith shows great loyalty by shielding his sons and bearing the town’s revilement on his own shoulders.

In a parallel to Keith cremating Bonita to protect Roman and Dante, Roman burns up Getty and Cassidy to protect his brother. Cosby closes the novel with the pregnant Jae going to the crematory and realizing that Roman is now the leader of the Black Baron Boys. The author’s choice of the crematory setting cements the theme and the novel’s cynical view of human nature by indicating that the Carruthers’ trauma and destructive loyalty will be passed down to another generation.