Transcript Setting in Survival Zones - teacher hughes

The Use of Setting in
“Survival Zones”
Short story from Homeland by Barbara Kingsolver
Individual Oral Presentation
John Carges, 2007-2008
Survival Zones
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Centers on Roberta and her
daughter, Roxanne.
Residents of the small town
Elgin.
Roxanne is torn by the choice
to leave her home or her
boyfriend.
Roberta is experiencing,
among other things, a sudden
boredom.
Setting in Survival Zones
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Creates Conflict
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Creates mood
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Roxanne can’t decide if she wants
to leave the simple life for the big
city
Roberta wants excitement in her
life
Natural, organic
Slow, simple
Places emphasis on the idea of
“home” and gives it
significance.
Giving Significance to “Home”
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Using a small town for
the setting makes the
idea of home seem:
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More important to the
character
Like a bubble cut off
from the world
Like an obstacle
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“ ‘Look at me, born right
down the road, and after all
these years of chasing my tail
doing nothing, here I still
am.’ ” (Page 108)
Creating Conflict
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Makes Roxanne
seem like a “small
fish in a big pond”
Makes readers
empathize with
feeling of boredom
and tedium
Contrasts with
quick-paced
outsiders.
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“ ‘Remember that time you and Daddy
took me up to Cincinnati to see the
Christmas lights? And I cried? I get all
bewildered in a city.’ ” (Page 106)
“It sounds peculiar to Roberta to hear
distance measured in blocks… She
stands up straight with a hand on her
back and feels a great weight moving
through her, an enormous lifelessness.”
(Page 111)
“There was a time when this
inconvenience seemed romantic to
Roberta… But over the years it’s
become just one more way of marking
the passing seasons.” (Page 113)
Creating Mood
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“An H-bomb is what it
would take, Roberta
thinks. She has lived in
Elgin for more than forty
years, and during that
time no one she knows
of has ever moved here
from Cincinnati.” (Page
103)
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Organic, Natural
Slow, Simple
Bored, Melancholy
Setting in
Homeland
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In all cases a small town
or community, or even a
completely remote area.
Makes “Home” a more
important aspect of the
characters’ lives
Creates conflict with
boredom
Rural Setting in Homeland Cont.
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Using a rural setting
makes a stronger
connection to home
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With smaller, more
focused worlds, the
characters’ home is
more significant.
Rural often implies
farming, which comes
with an agricultural
connection to the
land.
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In contrast, it adds to
the tedium and makes
some characters more
willing to leave (or
contemplate leaving)
their home in search of
a more exciting life.
Setting In Two Different Stories
Homeland
 Like with Roberta,
children are bored of
their homeland.
 In contrast, Great Mam
doesn’t wish to return to
her homeland.
 Great Mam encourages a
connection with the land.
Blueprints
 The isolation leads to
conflict between the
main characters.
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Disconnect between
them and their old
friends
Homesickness
Kingsolver and Setting
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Influenced by her
childhood in small
towns.
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Her comfort zone for
writing is in small towns,
which is visible in all of
her published books.
Her movements
throughout life have led
to her lack of a true
homeland.
Rural Influence
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Growing up in rural Kentucky and spending
much of her time in Arizona and rural parts of
Europe, rural or small town settings are an easy
thing for her to write.
Equally, her comfort in rural areas led her to
write about the fear of moving to a big city.
Felt very connected to other residents, a fact
that shows in her stories.
Movement, Lack of Homeland
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Kingsolver has spent
long periods of time in
different places, and her
periodic movement may
suggest that she has very
little sense of a defined
home.
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This has influenced
Kingsolver to write about
rural areas like her own
and the challenge of
finding a home.
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From Kingsolver.com
“She spent the late 1970's in
Greece, France and England
seeking her fortune, but had
not found it by the time her
work visa expired in
1979. She then moved to
Tucson, Arizona, out of
curiosity to see the American
southwest.”
What is your connection with
HOME?