Sunday, March 8, 2009

Setting

The book is set in a small town with a tiny population in Norway. I find this book really interesting because it is one of the few books I have read where the setting represents the character's personality. Trond is someone who truly likes to be alone. He loves to think and reflect on events that have taken place throughout his life time. He also likes to recall memories. The setting represents this in multiple ways. First, he lives alone by himself with his dog. There is really no neighbors aside from one who lives a good distance away from Trond. In my opinion, this shows the fact he likes to be alone. If he didn't, he would have found someone to live with and perhaps started a family. Secondly, he lives by a lake. This represents how he likes to refelct on life events. He used to fish in lakes with his father, along with hangout with Jon. One thing I did notice is the setting brings sadness to Trond. There are things, like the lake, that bring back childhood memories that cause Trond to feel alone and unhappy.

6 comments:

  1. Emily,
    You showed interesting points about how the landscape is related to Trond's personality. I think this setting is a good place for Trond to reflect on his life because it is so calm and peaceful, but I agree, does cause him sadness when he relfects on some bad moments of his childhood. I think Trond's motive to move into such a secluded area may have been influenced by an event during his childhood, or also may not have enjoyed living near people when he was younger. This could have influenced to live alone because he thought it was just easier.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emily,
    I like your point about the lake and how it is one of the many ways the setting reflects Trond's personality. I agree with your statement about how the lake may bring back happy memories, but it also causes him to feel alone. I think Trond is one that is able to cope with sadness in a very efficient manner, he can put it behind him because he is so used to living alone and away from society.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emily,
    I liked how you said that the setting represents Trond's personality and how this was one of the only books you knew of that did this. That got me thinking and I would have to agree with you that I can not think of a lot of books that do this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Emily-

    I really like your point about the lake reflecting his memories. A lot of his life is now devoted to recalling his past and simply thinking in general, and the lake involves quite a few of those memories. The feelings he had while experiencing those events can now be brought back with a simple glance, seeing what once was.

    Stacey

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really like your comment at the end about how Trond's cabin and surroundings bring sad memories to him. You got me to think about why Trond would have chosen a house that makes him sad. I believe that the reason Trond chose this cabin was because with the sad memories come happier ones and maybe Trond needs to let go of something that happened to him in the past and these memories can help him accomplish that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Emily,
    I understand your side of thinking that Trond likes to be alone, and you do bring up a good point that if he wanted company other than his dog, he would be living with someone. He could even at least get to know his neighbor if he really wanted company. You brought up a good point by posting this.

    ReplyDelete