Katy Gladden
Professor Ramona Cheek
LIB 732 Module 4, Setting Activity
17 June 2011
Settings
Directions: In this module we are studying settings and how they are used by
authors. Select two contemporary children's books that you are familiar with that
have opposite settings and discuss how the author's make the settings work to
support the plot in each of these stories.
After exploring the children’s public library, I was able to find two award winning
books with opposite settings in response to the assignment requirements. These
fictional selections are entitled Holes by Louis Sachar and Dogsong by Gary Paulsen.
The purpose of this paper will be to explore this difference and how the settings
function in each story to assist the storyline.
Story and Setting Summary for Holes
In Holes, the plot mostly takes place at a juvenile detention center for boys set in a
Texas wasteland around the 20th century. There are a few flashbacks back to Latvia
to the 19th century as the family curse is revealed. At the camp, the weather is dry
and hot like the desert and the ground is filled with holes dug by the campers.
Although the detention center is named Camp Green Lake, this name is a misnomer
as there is nothing green in the area and no water can be found for miles around.
The land is hostile with poisonous snakes and lizards and so are the people who run
the camp.
However, in earlier times, Camp Green Lake was a lake and the town of Green Lake
was a lush and green place where peach trees flourished. During this time,
Katherine Barlow, a schoolteacher, fell in love with a black man named Sam.
Unfortunately, it was against the law for a black man to kiss a white woman. When
Charles Walker, the richest man in town found out that Katherine and Sam kissed,
he became angry. He had strong feelings for Katherine who was not romantically
interested in him. Sam and Katherine attempted to run away but their boat was
damaged half way across the lake and Sam died. Interestingly enough, rain stopped
falling on Green Lake the day after Sam passed on.
Stricken with grief, Katherine rebelled and became an outlaw named Kate Barlow.
During her adventures as a renegade, she inadvertently robbed Stanley’s great
grand grandfather and buried the money. Later, she died before anyone discovered
the location of the hidden money.
Fast forward, one day Stanley is digging a hole in Green Lake and he finds the
suitcase with his name written on the outside. By coincidence, this suitcase was the
same one that his great grandfather lost many years ago to Kate Barlow during the
robbery. The story ends on a happy note in that Stanley’s lawyer arrives at camp to
reveal that he has been proven innocent and the valuables in the suitcase rightfully
belong to his family.
Significance of Setting
In the story Holes, the setting is vital to the plot for several reasons. It is where the
family history occurred on Camp Green Lake. The dry barren wasteland is full of
holes and it is in one of these holes that Stanley was able to find the suitcase. Very
clearly, without this particular setting, the plot would not have made sense to the
reader.
Story and Setting Summary for Dogsong
Dogsong is a story about a 14 year old boy named Russell Susksit who lives in an
Eskimo village. Russell is struggling to find himself referred to metaphorically as
finding his song and consequently visits an older wiseman (shaman) named Oogruk.
Oogruk convinces Russell to participate in a dangerous 1400 mile sled race across
Alaska and journey North into the wilderness with his sled dogs as a rite of passage
just as the earlier Eskimos did. The route is barren and due to the frozen Tundra,
food is scarce and the trip becomes one of survival. In the process, Russell and his
dogs encounter an abandoned snow machine that has run out of gas during a severe
snowstorm. Thinking that the machine operator must be nearby, he looks around
and discovers an unconscious pregnant woman named Nancy buried in the snow.
Russell shelters her and she regains consciousness. As she is too fragile to travel to
find food, Russell hunts for food on his own and brings some back to her. She is
saved and Russell becomes a man.
The setting in Dogsong is essential to the storyline. Without the setting in the
Eskimo culture and harsh arctic climate, this story would not have made sense. This
story carries with it a theme of the Eskimo culture and the harsh realities of life.
Conclusion
Although the settings used in both Holes and Dogsong, are opposite in description,
(one being dry and hot and the other being wet and cold), these two setting are
similar in function. Both settings are integral, not backdrop settings, and serve as a
vital components to the stories and aid in the explanation of the story. As such, the
settings illuminate conflict (man versus nature in Dogsong and man versus man in
Holes) to reveal the characters and consequently affect the mood of the story. In
this way, the settings in both of these story help to provide structure to and support
the plot of the storylines.