Discuss a short story, poem, or novel in which the geography (the location) was significant to the meaning.
One example for me would be The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The novel is about a missionary and his family who travel to Africa on a mission trip. The area where they spend several years is somewhat uncivilized and very basic--similar to the relationships between the family members. It is also interesting to note that though they go there to change the lives of those they "teach," it is the family themselves who change the most. Sending them to spend a year somewhere else would not have had the same effect. The geography of Africa was very important to the overall theme.
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In "The Story of an Hour" The geography was vital for the woman who dies. After she hears the news of her husbands supposed death, she goes into her room alone, locks the door, and cries. After this, she looks out the window into the spring air, the green grass, the birds chirping, she sees all of this new life coming out and living, which invigorates her to start living again so to speak. This physical location and atmosphere bring her out of the thought of her life being over to the thought of her life just beginning again. If it was cold, snowy, cloudy and grim, she wouldn't have been inspired for new life.
ReplyDeleteIn the last book i read The Hunger Games it was set in a futuristic world that had been ravaged by a nuclear war and the united states was set into 12 divisions controlled by a capital, the world was very run down with little technology in all but the capital and the geography reflected the people that lived in those areas and showed how they rely on the capital and they are no better than the scrap pieces of land that they live on.
ReplyDeleteIn the book Deception Point they were location in the artic circle to try and find evidence of asteroids crashing to each from other planets. they were located there due to the fact that they could take samples of the ice from millions of years ago and test them for evidence. They were located there due to the connivence of being able to trace back time. They ended up finding what they were looking for and were able to prove their scientific finding were true.
ReplyDeleteI read a book over the summer called The Testament. In the book, a lawyer is trying to locate a missionary woman who is supposed to receive her inheritance from her long, lost father who died. The missionary is located somewhere in South America in the Pantanal, the largest wetlands in the world. No one knows exactly where she is, so the lawyer basically has to search the entire area to find her. A large portion of the book is about him finding the missionary. If the missionary was somewhere else, such as the United States, the story wouldn’t be as engaging.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago I read this book called, "Peaches," by Jodi Lynn Anderson it's probably one of the best books I've ever read. It's very simple, but I loved it. It was a book set on a peach farm in Georgia. It was about three girls who had totally different personalities, one was a total snob and another one was incredibly shy and afraid to come out of her shell. The point of the story was that they all learned to get along and become "better" people. I think the books southern location played a huge part in the change of character of the girls. When I think of the south, I think of kind, loving, friendly people and that's how the girls became. If this story was set in the north it wouldn't have added to the characterization as dramatically.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the name of the book that I read but the location defiinately was one where the location was necessary. It was about a girl from the north who moves to the south and finds friends and everything but even though she told her northern friends they were just a bunch of hillbillies they still loved her anyway. If this story was held somewhere else the southerness, haha not a word, wouldn't make the story!
ReplyDeleteBefore school let out last year I read a book that the geography was very important. It is basically the same situation as what you mentioned in your blog. The girl is a snob who lives in the U.S. She gets whatever she wants when she wants it. Her biological father is Israeli. She is forced to go to Israel over the summer. At first, she hates it and how she has to work and how life is not just easy. She also learns a lot because Israel is a battle ground. If this story was set in a place that was just peachy keen, there would be no moral to the story and it wouldnt have any good meaning. The fact that it was set in Israel helps the reader realize that she was not just on a vacation.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school I used to love the Harry Potter books. Geography plays an important part in the Harry Potter books because being in a land where only wizards and witches can find emphasizes the point the the "Muggles" and the Wizards should be seperated which is an important theme throughout all the books.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, SlaughterHouse 5, the protagonist spends much of his time in Dresden, Germany. Dresden was firebombed during World War 2 and the location is depressing and dull. Bodies are everywhere and everything is dead, dark, and burning. This book is about an anti-hero named Billy Pilgrim and it is meant to have a very depressing tone. The scene helps accomplish the task.
ReplyDeleteI can agree. Geography really does play a big role in stories. I'm just going to go with a well known book, Anne Frank Diary. Even though, the book is based on her diary, the location would be important if it were put into just a story; fiction or non. This can go along with any other novel that has to do with war. The location of Anne is what set up the whole story, and the things going on around her. If they were in the states, or in another country, the way she was affected by war would had been totally different.
ReplyDeleteI have often referred to Tamora Pierce and her books, I feel I need to do so again. In Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen, Aly and the family that buys her from the slave traders leave the island on exile from the King's favor.
ReplyDeleteThe geography is a big part of the story for these books while they are exiled. Many assassins are sent to their remote location to try and kill the family, as well as many other problems that await then with the geography of it all. Because Aly is a goatherd while they are there, she can plot the advantages and disadvantages of the keep and landscape to plan for the coming of armies or the way assassin would sneak into the keep's grounds.
Geography plays a big role in many books, in this case if not for the layout of the geography of the keep and its grounds many of the events in the books wouldn't have happened.
I cant recall the title of the book but it is about a rich snooty girl who has never had to go without anything, she was given everything that she ever wanted. But unfortunately her fathers firm goes bankrupt and loses his job. Her family is forced to move and then has to adapt to the new public schools and has to deal with poverty. She then soon learns that money isnt everything and becomes friends with everybody and learns that her and the other kids in her new school have alot in common
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