My Antonia

I am currently reading “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. The book is about a boy visiting his grandparents at their house on the Nebraska Prairie, where he meets a Bohemian immigrant named Antonia. The book describes in depth both life on the Prairie as well as the two children’s relationship to one another. I find that the boy’s reaction when meeting Antonia is a smidge surprising, and unnatural to a person like me, and I also think that the setting could be the cause of this.

The boy, Jimmy, does not seem frightened or nervous at all when meeting the Bohemian family. He seems confident and willing to listen to the family. Coming from New York, I would be a smidge shy, as many kids my age would, and I would also not run off holding hands with one of the people I had just met and “snuggle” with him/her at the edge of a cliff. Honestly, I find this a little straightforward and imposing. I find myself quite quiet (if you can believe it) around strangers, but especially foreigners. Once, my friend rented her house out to a Scottish family, who my parents then decided to invite for brunch. The aspect I found most threatening was how polite they were. People from not only Scotland, but England as well are generally more polite than New Yorkers. One example of their polite manner was when my mom asked the 5-year-old boy, Bruce, whether he wanted some more orange juice. He replied in his adorable Scottish accent, “I wouldn’t mind.” The way he said it was so polite, like someone would say at the inaugural ball. Anyway, Jimmy was not shy at all, and I believe that he is a very communicative person because he did not feel this way when meeting the Bohemian family.

I think that the setting is partly the cause of Jimmy’s straightforward manner. On the lone, open prairie, a person could walk for miles without seeing another person or house. Jimmy’s loneliness may have led to a desire to talk to someone other than his grandparents. The same goes for Antonia. She is Bohemian, and most likely is not used to prairie life. Both she and Jimmy probably got fed up with their family and wanted a change. I feel this way with my room. Do you ever get tired of the way your room looks and randomly move furniture around? It may sound a little strange, but I do this every few months, depending on how neat the change allows me to be. The point is that Jimmy and Antonia were bored with seeing the same people each day because it is rare to see people out on the prairie, so they did not feel shy at all when meeting each other. Because of my experience with this, I understand how frustrating it is to see the same people and the same furniture each day.

Antonia, in “My Antonia” causes the main character, Jimmy, to respond to her in an overly-confident manner. He, in my opinion, seems almost rude in the way he acts. This is why people are shy: because they don’t want to seem to imposing or act as if they have already met. There is a difference (obviously) between rude and friendly, but in this case, it is almost hard to tell them apart.

The Diary of Anne Frank

The book I have recently started, “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Anne Frank is the actual diary of a thirteen year old girl hiding in an attic from the Nazis during world war two. She describes the living conditions and everything that she hears about what is happening to her friends and family who are not hidden. One of the most common things she talks about while hiding in the “secret annex” is the fights the families have. There is Ms. Van Daan who always is picking a fight with someone or other. And then she talks about herself and how nobody seems to think that she can do anything right. But it is really nobody’s fault for the fights. It can be because of the setting or because of the anxiety of what is happening.

The setting is a major part of the reason why there is so much tension. Because the two families are living in a cramped living environment, a lot of their quarrels have to do with the setting itself. One fight that lasted a few days was over a small work desk that everyone needed to do their work. The setting made it difficult to share a working space with all dwellers. Many of the arguments have happened because of some problem with the setting. For example, the families had to store beans but could not keep them on the main floor so they had an argument about who should take them upstairs. The end result was a million beans on the floor. The setting has a large impact on the characters relationships because it makes them quarrel more often for simple things like beans or a work desk. I know that if I was stuck with the same eight people in an attic I would be angered easily. This makes me realize how hard it must be for them to be nice to each other in this environment. It must be difficult for the families to get along as much as they do which is hardly at all.

In the book, the newcomer who moves in with Anne and her family into the “secret annex” knows a lot about what is going on outside because he has been out there longer. He tells the family all of the horrors of what has been happening at concentration camps and how unfairly people are treated. I think that it is stories like these that add to the fighting between people. The anxiety of knowing that something might happen to them and what is happening to their friends is harsh and it certainly adds to the tension. This makes the families spark their anger at every little thing. I know that I would be very scared knowing that I could be caught and shot at any moment for hiding, I would be very scared and easily frightened. This is what causes some of the fight. Also, because there is hardly anything to do, there is more time for them to think about these things giving more fighting time as well as more time to build up fears. Anxiety and boredom are definitely contributing to the arguments between people in the “secret annex”.

It is obvious by the way that Anne Frank talks about the arguments that they are not what usually happen between her and her family. So, something must be different. I think that the setting itself is a contributing factor because there is hardly room and has caused many specific arguments. Boredom leads to anxiety which leaves residents more vulnerable to becoming angry at one another. There are definitely many more things, though, that cause these fights. But arguments are most often sparked in my life because of these things, so these must be the major causes of arguments in general.

Death on the Nile

I recently finished reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. It is a murder mystery about a wealthy young lady, Linnet, who marries the fiancée of her best friend Jackie. Jackie, however close to Linnet she may be, has a plot of revenge which includes following the newly-wed couple on their honeymoon to Egypt and wounding Simon Doyle (her ex. husband) and possibly killing Linnet. All of this has happened in the first half of the book. The story is very suspenseful and draws the reader in to make them keep reading. I could not stop this book, and every chapter consists of a new twist that is completely unexpected. The main setting for the book, as it looks like now, will be Egypt, hence the title. I think that the setting will be a very important part of the book later on because of what it has done for me already.

Egypt has been a common hint to me about who is involved or connected to Linnet. In the beginning of the book, each new chapter introduced a complicated new character of whom I had no idea of who they were or why they were in the story. After I found out about the honey moon of the Doyles to Egypt, I began to identify the word Egypt as a word that connected characters. This clue helped me become less confused about characters and which person does what in the beginning of the book especially, but all throughout the book as well. Egypt was important not so much to the story in this case, but more of a clue for the reader to figure out which characters would be on the trip to Egypt and the important roles they would play in the mystery.

Egypt is also the main place where Jackie decides to track Linnet and Simon down. She does this because she is angry with Simon because he married Linnet after being engaged with her. The setting becomes important here because Jackie is ruining the honeymoon to Egypt, and is a suspect of Linnet’s murder. She has become a dreaded and feared companion on the trip. The setting is unique from any other place that Linnet and Simon could be for their honey moon because they are on a boat for most of the time which makes the case much more contained, and most likely easier to solve because the murderer must be on the boat. Without Egypt, the story may have been a lot longer than it is. Jackie is cleared from one "coincidental" almost-fatal happening in Egypt. A large rock tumbles down a cliff to just where the Doyles sat but they hurriedly moved just seconds before it crashed to the ground. Literally, a piece of the setting almost killed the endangered couple. This was no coincidence it seemed after all that happened. This is when the suspicion begins, all caused by the setting of Egypt.

This book is probably my favorite book ever. One of the things that make it so interesting is the setting. I learned a lot about settings from this book. I now know that every setting has some importance to the book, otherwise, it would not be that setting. My life would be a lot different if I lived somewhere else, for the better or worse. In this book, the setting helped the story a lot by being on a boat in Egypt most of the time, this way there are limited suspects. 

The Fellowship of the Ring

I recently finished reading The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is an adventure story about a hobbit named Frodo who ends up with a great and powerful ring that he must dispose of. He goes on adventure with a few friends to destroy the ring. I think that the book is very well written and the setting changes from page to page through their travels. I think that it is important to the book that the setting is always changing and it could help the reader feel of the mood of the story and how Frodo must adapt to such a new environment.

The setting begins in the Shire, a cozy little place for all of the hobbits to live in. None of the hobbits know about any of the dangers of the world around them because they have always lived in the Shire. They are too busy planning parties and bustling about in the spring breeze. There is rarely a care in the world. Imagine being Frodo and having to go from this setting to a place where you must always be on the lookout for spys and black riders who chase you throughout the whole book. On top of that, you are in charge of keeping a prized possession safe that could hurt the whole earth if put in the wrong hands and draws so much danger towards you. This is such a dramatic change for Frodo that he will never be able to enjoy the calm feeling of the Shire ever again.

In spite of this difficult transition, Frodo manages to absorb himself in the actual task that he has set out to do, rather than just being a laggard because he is unhappy. Towards the middle of the book, he remembers the comfortable environment of the Shire as he relaxes in the house of Elrond where he does not want to leave. This was a setback because he lost the feeling of adventure inside of him and must re-adapt to the dangers of the world. He does this at least one other time in the book and I think that it is good because he can have a fresh start with breaks in between, but also it is getting him out his adventure zone and back into his relaxed Shire zone. I think that Frodo struggles with this throughout the book especially in the middle of the book when they loose Gandalf. It is especially hard for him then.

The frequent change of setting in the book effects Frodo quite a bit. He gains knowledge about the real world but he also struggles with the new environment. This helps me better understand our world and how it is changing through ups and downs.