Setting

So far in Out Stealing Horses it has been extremely easy to visualize the setting of each event. Trond's cabin is set in a very remote area of Norway, and he spends a great deal of time alone. The image in my head is of a smaller, run-down log cabin with very bare furnishings. With the way that Petterson describes each event, it is difficult to not have a clear mental image of the scene. In the beginning of the novel, when Trond is describing his adventure with Jon, a lucid image presents itself of the boys in their attempt to "steal" horses. The scene plays out of a boy hanging from a tree branch and dropping just a bit too soon onto a galloping horse, and becoming sick from the pain- and then proceeds to get thrown over a barbed wire fence. It is impossible to not picture a teenage Trond and his misfortune in your mind. Another outstanding instance is when Trond is describing the way he put together the events of the day that Lars shot Odd. Because Trond is explaining it the way he sees it in his mind, it is as if the reader is watching the scene play out along with him. Petterson's writing evokes strong feelings from the reader about the book and therefore allows them to easily picture the setting that he so beautifully but simply paints.