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 novel "Cry, the Beloved Country" the geography plays a larger role than just setting. The novel is set in South Africa. The main character is the pastor in a very small, impoverished town and he goes to the city to find his son and his wayward sister. In the man's town, it is very dry and everything is difficult. For example,to get water they must climb the mountain. In the city, there are planted trees that provide shade and other pleasantries, but the pastor still sees it as a dirty place. The novel calls attention to the mountains, valleys, and rivers repeatedly. The pastor deeply loves his surroundings and mourns for his people because fear (stemming from political conflict in the country at the time) is robbing them of what they love. I gather that the geography was so often mentioned to show how majestic and beautiful the area was even in its simplicity and in the midst of grief. Though the people of South Africa were troubled, the land retained its beauty for them.
One story I can think of where the geography is really important is in the book Ocotber Sky. We all read it and know that it was about a boy who grew up in a place where everyone was a coal miner. However, the little boy had his own dream to work with rockets. To me the coal mine served as a barrier for him physicly and mentally. The mine was what was holding him back form doing what he really wanted. The open space allowed him to launch teh rockets, so that land symbolized the possibility to do/be anything.
In the story "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, the location is very significant. The boy ends up stranded and has to live off the land by himself.
Well in the novel the lord of the flies the geography makes the book there set on a tropical island all alone the islands makes the kids tap back into there animal senses of survivel that jungle atmosphere pulled out that instinct in them even to kill there own
Animal Farm is a good example in which the geography plays a significant role in the story. The farm is where all the dictator animals live, and the pigs force all the other animals to do farm work.
i think of lord of the rings because in all the different places and obstacles to over come and to gain trust in each other.
Huckelberry Finn would be an example of where the geography would matter because if he didn't have the river then he wouldnt have been able to do the things he did and he couldn't have made the story.
In A+P, the girls came in to the store when it was hot and they were by the beach, bikini clad. this wouldnt have worked if they came in the store in bikini's in winter in the middle of nowhere
In the book "Passage to India" the geography of India, especially a unique set of caves, are very significant to the plot. The main character, a young indian doctor and widower, loves his country and everything about his culture. He doesn't even mind the "superior" white people who, for political reasons between Britian and India, have sort of taken over and treat the Indians as if they were all lowly servants. In the story he encounters a young British woman who is new to India, so she doesn't quite understand the segregation of the two cultures, and is nice to him. Through a series of events, they go to tour the caves, and something happens to the young girl in a cave, and she accuses the dotor, even though he is innocent. Through the trial and publicity and mess, both change drastically. He no longer finds beauty in his country because of his disjustice, and even the beautiful caves take on a dull look of "just mounds of dirt." to the young woman, she is cought into the trap of all of the other stuffy british people, and fails to see the true beauty of India, and only sees her inner circle as important.
I think the goegraphy in Rocket Boys was extremely significant to the plot. It was assumed that he would just grow up and become a miner like everyone else, but he had his own dreams. Had he lived in a place that didn't put that kind of pressure on kids his story wouldn't be the same. It was a huge obstacle he had to overcome and in the end he did.
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