Clapsaddle uses “bones” as the title to Part 1 to symbolize the bond between the living with the deceased, and history with the present. The author is particularly interested in the heritage of her ancestral people, the Cherokees. Bones symbolically represent identities and stories. While Indigenous Americans generally do not practice the worship of ancestors, they do offer special reverence and respect for the deceased. The author builds upon this custom with the symbolic use of bones and references to them. The first reflection on the importance of bones comes from the narrator, Cowney, who wonders if the bones of his deceased father are now as clean as those hanging in a college classroom. The cleansed skeleton will have no extraneous matter, thus standing as a pure example of the man it was. This is the image of the man he will admire, Cowney thinks, since he never knew his father.

As Part 1 progresses, Cowney finds a bone in the dirt while digging a posthole. The bone intrigues Cowney because of its mystery. He cleans and keeps it, carrying it with him to his home and back to his work. The bone nearly implicates him in the disappearance of a child.