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.
One book where I think the location is important is in Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. It's about a symbolist who has to travel to Switzerland to save the Vatican from being blown up. He travels all around Rome in search of the Assassin who has killing the cardinals and who is going to blow up the Vatican. I think the place setting of Rome and Switzerland is very important because both have backgrounds of deep religion and the main reason the symbolist is on the hunt for the assassin is because he contains a container of antimatter(explosive material) which many residents of the area would have disagreed with since religion didn't mix with science.
ReplyDeleteA book where the location is key is in Twilight. In Forks, Washington, it is always raining. The constant overcast and rain allow the Cullen's, who are vampires, to come out during the day. If it was always sunny in Forks, they would not be able to go to school or live relatively normal lives.
ReplyDeleteThe book I think about is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The location is significant because it takes place in Germany during the Nazi period. This is the perfect location for the book because it is right in the middle of the Nazis and where all the action took place. The story is fiction but it does have a real setting and the general idea of what is going on with the concentration camps and everything.
ReplyDeleteA book I think about is The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology that has to help American national security heads solve a mysterious invitation left in the capitol building. Unlike any other of Dan Brown's book this takes place in America, which i think is significant because most people believe that all historic mysteries are about Europe. But America was formed and still is shrouded in mystery, are country was founded by one of the longest surviving fraternities. The book describes many places in D.C. being constructed with symbology or astrology in mind.
ReplyDeleteI can't really think of a book off the top of my head to where geography played an important role. But I get where it does play an important role in some books, like Twilight that I have read also. I know where the book takes place is important.
ReplyDeleteOk so the first book that popped into my head was twilight but then I thought about Holes. Holes took place at Camp Greenlake. This was important because its where Kissing Kate Barlow (I think that was her name) had died. There was a curse on Stanley's family that the river would be dried up. Once Stanley carries zero up "God's Thumb" the curse was lifted and Stanley found his treasure (which Kate had when she died there) from Camp Greenlake where it began to rain for the first time since the curse. I probably didn't do too good of a job trying to explain this, but I think we have all seen Holes and have an understanding of why the location was significant.
ReplyDeleteThe location in The Book Thief is very important. The location in this book is Nazi Germany. The city in which this family lives is falling apart and is not what it used to be. Just like the family. While hiding a jew in their basement, they all start somehow changing and building different relationships (good or bad) with the man downstairs. Toward the end of the book the worst of the family's problems seem to cease, just like the problems of the city because of the war.
ReplyDeleteThe first book that comes to my mind is the book Huck Finn that we read in Mr. McElrath's class. Huck and the other characters in the book all live near the banks of the Mississippi River, which back then was mainly woods and not very civilized yet. In the book, Huck decided to travel down the river and he runs into many unruly characters, just like the river was unruly and untamed. I think that the river was a perfect setting for the book because it was adventurous and wild, just like Huck Finn.
ReplyDeleteThe first book that comes to mind when I think of location is Twilight. In twilight the location actually really important. It symbolizes the mood towards the story and also helps explain the characters before knowing they are vampires. Since the characters are vampires they chose Forks because its usually rainy and cloudy, and if their skin is under the sun it would glow like a diamond.
ReplyDeleteA book that we read last year was Huck Finn. The geography of that book was important because of the diction that the author used. The book was set in a rural town with a river next to it. The way the characters spoke was with a southern dialect with words cut in half and names used to for object we had never heard. The setting of the river also played a major role in that Huck spent the entire book going down the river.
ReplyDeleteA book I have read when the location was relevant would be the diary of Anne Frank. The book was written during the war and went into detail about how tragic the surroundings were and how the people were treated by Hitler during this time frame. Had you not known her and her family's location her life story probably wouldn't have made much sense.
ReplyDeleteIn the books "A series of unfortunate events" The main characters (The three misfortunate children) go to very many dreary places to live after their parents are killed in a murder that was set up to look like an accident. The places they travel depict what kind of mood it sets for them. Like one instance they are stuck to live at an academy where everyone is out to get them, and they have no friends. So this helps to explain the story of how they just go from one bad place to another.
ReplyDeleteIn Twilight Forks was important because it rained a lot and was never sunny. The Cullen's a vampire family couldn't be out in direct sunlight so being in a town were its almost constantly cloudy is important. In one of the books it said the Cullens moved to California which showed Bella that they didn't really move there because it was to sunny.
ReplyDeleteIn a book i read call crpitids. location places a role in the way that there situation unfolds. They go to live with there uncle and everything is fun at his house and interesting. but when they make it to the congo on there own the atmosphere is scary and hostile
ReplyDeleteThe only book i can think of is "twilight" it has to be in Forks Washington because they have so many rainy cloudy days and because the Cullens can't be out in the sun light they live in a place where there is hardly any sun but still people to be around.
ReplyDeleteOne book/movie in which the location/geography is important that comes to my mind would be "The Lost World" by Michael Crichton. The main part of the book and movie take place on the island Isla Sorna which is were the Dinosaurs have been roaming free and the team (the main characters) go there to try and research them.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I'm reminded of the whole archetype lesson. Locations are very important to the feel and meaning of the story. A futuristic story won't take place in a barren desert, it will take place in a bustling, overcrowded city, to symbolize the progression and growth of society.
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure if specific locations within the book count, but in the book I just read Bottled Up, whenever he is smoking weed he is either at this cemetery or behind this meat shop. This is significant because he is hiding it, even though he doesn't care if people know he doesn't do it out in the open, therefore, hiding it without knowing it.
ReplyDeleteI feel like all locations are key in a good story. Location is key in Harry Potter, because if they were in Hogwarts the muggles would learn of magic.
ReplyDeleteOne example would be the Bloody Jack novels. In each book, she takes on a new adventure. In one, she and her schoolmates are taken captive on a boat to be sold into slavery. She teaches those 18th century girls how to fight. Had they not been forced onto the boat together, forced to work together or die alone (as is so often said), they wouldn't have escaped, they wouldn't have befriended each other, respected each other. Without that tiny boat sailing south, the story would've been nothing, as would have their escape. Another example is Jane Eyre. Had the manor been in a busy city, there likely would've been talk by the townspeople, rumors, long before she originally finds out his tremendous secret. If she had found it out earlier, what would've happened? Would she have left? Would she have fallen in love with him? Would she have married him? So on and so forth. Not to mention his attitude very much fit the English weather.
ReplyDeleteI had a really hard time with this one. It took me a long time to think of an example of this. The one i came up with is the parable of The Good Samaritan in the Bible. The story takes place in on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Both of these cities are prominently Jewish. In this area, Samaritans are greatly looked down upon. Yet, it is the Samaritan that stops to help the Jewish traveler.
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