My thought is that this was a self-administered abortion. A couple clues that lead me to this thought:
the father disapproves of Billy Jo - while not iron-clad, it reveals a reason for the singer to keep the relationship quiet
the singer is visibly upset to hear the news - again, not a hard reason for abortion, but it implicates her directly in the reason
the item they throw, while possibly a token of love, probably isn't -- Brother Taylor says he saw the singer AND Billy Jo thowing something. If it was a token of love, why would Billy Jo be throwing it, too? More likely he and Billy Jo are throwing something that they SHARE. Otherwise, the phrasing would be different. Something about the singer threw something off the bridge, and Billy Jo got upset, or some other phrasing.
Lastly, the flowers. Flowers represent a lot of things, but in this context, they've got to represent life. She picks flowers - in essence, killing them - and then throws them into the river. The symbolism can't be missed. The life of the fetus, snuffed out in the same fashion, the life of Billy Jo, also ended prematurely --- and both they, and the flowers, go into the river. Notice, she drops the flowers - she doesn't throw them. If she threw them, you could maybe see that as being connected to the throwing, pushing, or killing of Billy Jo. Instead, she's simply dropping them. Adding their terminated lives to the terminated lives of Billy Jo and the baby.
@Sir_Larrikin I always believed they dated and the family didn't know because she was to young,but she ended up having an early miscarriage. She went to him to tell him so they decided to throw the fetus off the bridge together. He felt ashamed of not standing up to her parents and for throwing the baby off so he took his life. She went on by herself in life and spent her time throwing flowers to their graves. I don't think the movie did the mystery any good!
@Sir_Larrikin I always believed they dated and the family didn't know because she was to young,but she ended up having an early miscarriage. She went to him to tell him so they decided to throw the fetus off the bridge together. He felt ashamed of not standing up to her parents and for throwing the baby off so he took his life. She went on by herself in life and spent her time throwing flowers to their graves. I don't think the movie did the mystery any good!
@Sir_Larrikin I also thought they had thrown a baby from the bridge (miscarried very premature or aborted), then Billie Joe couldn't live with it and committed suicide. I thought the flowers were her version of bringing flowers to the grave of Billie Joe and the baby.
@Sir_Larrikin I also thought they had thrown a baby from the bridge (miscarried very premature or aborted), then Billie Joe couldn't live with it and committed suicide. I thought the flowers were her version of bringing flowers to the grave of Billie Joe and the baby.
My thought is that this was a self-administered abortion. A couple clues that lead me to this thought:
the father disapproves of Billy Jo - while not iron-clad, it reveals a reason for the singer to keep the relationship quiet
the singer is visibly upset to hear the news - again, not a hard reason for abortion, but it implicates her directly in the reason
the item they throw, while possibly a token of love, probably isn't -- Brother Taylor says he saw the singer AND Billy Jo thowing something. If it was a token of love, why would Billy Jo be throwing it, too? More likely he and Billy Jo are throwing something that they SHARE. Otherwise, the phrasing would be different. Something about the singer threw something off the bridge, and Billy Jo got upset, or some other phrasing.
Lastly, the flowers. Flowers represent a lot of things, but in this context, they've got to represent life. She picks flowers - in essence, killing them - and then throws them into the river. The symbolism can't be missed. The life of the fetus, snuffed out in the same fashion, the life of Billy Jo, also ended prematurely --- and both they, and the flowers, go into the river. Notice, she drops the flowers - she doesn't throw them. If she threw them, you could maybe see that as being connected to the throwing, pushing, or killing of Billy Jo. Instead, she's simply dropping them. Adding their terminated lives to the terminated lives of Billy Jo and the baby.
@Sir_Larrikin I always believed they dated and the family didn't know because she was to young,but she ended up having an early miscarriage. She went to him to tell him so they decided to throw the fetus off the bridge together. He felt ashamed of not standing up to her parents and for throwing the baby off so he took his life. She went on by herself in life and spent her time throwing flowers to their graves. I don't think the movie did the mystery any good!
@Sir_Larrikin I always believed they dated and the family didn't know because she was to young,but she ended up having an early miscarriage. She went to him to tell him so they decided to throw the fetus off the bridge together. He felt ashamed of not standing up to her parents and for throwing the baby off so he took his life. She went on by herself in life and spent her time throwing flowers to their graves. I don't think the movie did the mystery any good!
@Sir_Larrikin I also thought they had thrown a baby from the bridge (miscarried very premature or aborted), then Billie Joe couldn't live with it and committed suicide. I thought the flowers were her version of bringing flowers to the grave of Billie Joe and the baby.
@Sir_Larrikin I also thought they had thrown a baby from the bridge (miscarried very premature or aborted), then Billie Joe couldn't live with it and committed suicide. I thought the flowers were her version of bringing flowers to the grave of Billie Joe and the baby.