Evan Sheppard Professor Linda Silva LITR 221: Spring 2015 21 June 2015 The Great Smokies In the novel The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, the work had a strong tie to the region. Set in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the author portrayed the pure beauty of the area. Although the area was deemed so beautiful it brought internal struggles in some characters throughout the novel. The author connects the work to the region through the imagery portrayed of the area and the dialect used by the characters. These regional elements describe the setting of the novel which allows the reader to better understand the meaning of the work. Many are not familiar with the area of the Great Smoky Mountains located in Tennessee, this novel provides a great sense of understanding of the area, and paints a clear image of the setting of this novel. The imagery the author uses is so in depth …show more content…
it will explain the natural beauty of the region. A line that clearly portrays the imagery is, “She paused often, and looked idly about her: sometimes at the distant mountains, blue and misty, against the indefinite horizon; sometimes down at the cool, dense shadows of the wooded valley, so far below the precipice, to which the steep clearing shelved” (Craddock). With the imagery used in the novel, it portrays the setting of the region, and gives a clear picture which also connects the overall work with the region. The author not only used great imagery to depict the setting but also tied in the local dialect spoken within the work. The dialect the author used within the novel connects the work to the region by representing the characters with thick southern accents.
As many know southerners usually have thick country accents, the author portrayed this very well within the novel by the words used in conversation between the characters. Great examples of this can be found in multiple lines such as, “I'm a-goin' ter take this hyar critter down” which can be translated as ‘I’m going to take this here critter down’ (Craddock). Also in another line saying, “He'll kill one o' our dogs with that thar shootin'-iron o' his'n!”, which can be translated to ‘He will kill one of our dogs with that there shooting iron of his’ (Craddock). The dialect used in the novel by the author can be found multiple times within the reading and can clearly be seen through some lines quoted above. With this dialect being used, it allows the reader to connect the scenery with the local populous’s cultural norms. The author connects the meaning behind the work to its specific region and sets the tone using this dialect for the entire
novel. The uses of imagery and dialect portrayed by the author gives great meaning to the work. By painting a clear picture into the readers mind, it gives them a better understanding of the overall setting. Also, by incorporating the local dialect in the perception of the characters, ties both the location and culture together. When the author tied these two together, it truly gave the work great meaning and properly depicted the region. Without the literary elements such as the tone and imagery portrayed throughout the novel, the overall connection and meaning would have lacked. Works Cited: Craddock, Charles Egbert. The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1885. Print.
“Burning Bright: The Language and Storytelling of Appalachia and the Poetry and Prose of Ron Rash.” Shepard University. 2011. The.
In Elena’s own introduction to the novel, she recalls an empty, inhabited American West and questions why the forefathers of South Texas have been forgotten:
The Appalachian Mountains in the nineteenth century landscapes are often depicted in a grand, glorious, and often spiritually uplifting form. The Hudson River School artists painting in the romantic style engages viewers to tell a story through naturally occurring images as well as interior knowledge of the times at hand.
The setting of the essay is Los Angeles in the 1800’s during the Wild West era, and the protagonist of the story is the brave Don Antonio. One example of LA’s Wild West portrayal is that LA has “soft, rolling, treeless hills and valleys, between which the Los Angeles River now takes its shilly-shallying course seaward, were forest slopes and meadows, with lakes great and small. This abundance of trees, with shining waters playing among them, added to the limitless bloom of the plains and the splendor of the snow-topped mountains, must have made the whole region indeed a paradise” (Jackson 2). In the 1800’s, LA is not the same developed city as today. LA is an undeveloped land with impressive scenery that provides Wild West imagery. One characteristic of the Wild West is the sheer commotion and imagery of this is provided on “the first breaking out of hostilities between California and the United States, Don Antonio took command of a company of Los Angeles volunteers to repel the intruders” (15). This sheer commotion is one of methods of Wild West imagery Jackson
Born in Home, Pennsylvania in 1927, Abbey worked as a forest ranger and fire look-out for the National Forest Service after graduating from the University of New Mexico. An author of numerous essays and novels, he died in 1989 leaving behind a legacy of popular environmental literature. His credibility as a forest ranger, fire look- out, and graduate of the University of New Mexico lend credibility to his knowledge of America’s wilderness and deserts. Readers develop the sense that Abbey has invested both time and emotion in the vast deserts of America.
Print. The. Cashin, Edward J., ed., pp. 113-117. A wilderness still the cradle of nature: frontier Georgia.
This passage gives readers an enhanced understanding of this talented author, as they see her passion for the wilderness during childhood.
When looking at the vast lands of Texas after the Civil War, many different people came to the lands in search for new opportunities and new wealth. Many were lured by the large area that Texas occupied for they wanted to become ranchers and cattle herders, of which there was great need for due to the large population of cows and horses. In this essay there are three different people with three different goals in the adventures on the frontier lands of Texas in its earliest days. Here we have a woman's story as she travels from Austin to Fort Davis as we see the first impressions of West Texas. Secondly, there is a very young African American who is trying his hand at being a horse rancher, which he learned from his father. Lastly we have a Mexican cowboy who tries to fight his way at being a ranch hand of a large ranching outfit.
William Faulkner is widely considered to be one of the great American authors of the twentieth century. Although his greatest works are identified with a particular region and time (Mississippi in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), the themes he explores are universal. He was also an extremely accomplished writer in a technical sense. Novels such as The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! Feature bold experimentation with shifts in time and narrative. Several of his short stories are favorites of anthologists, including "A Rose for Emily." This strange story of love, obsession, and death is a favorite among both readers and critics. The narrator, speaking for the town of Jefferson in Faulkner 's fictional Yoknapatawpha
In many of Faulkner’s stories, he tells about an imaginary county in Mississippi named Yoknapatawpha. He uses this county as the setting for his story “Barn Burning” and it is also thought that the town of Jefferson from “A Rose for Emily” is located in Yoknapatawpha County. The story of a boy’s struggle between being loyal to his family or to his community makes “Barn Burning” exciting and dramatic, but a sense of awkwardness and unpleasantness arrives from the story of how the fictional town of Jefferson discovers that its long time resident, Emily Grierson, has been sleeping with the corpse of her long-dead friend with whom she has had a relationship with.
Waller, Altina. "Two Words in the Tennessee Mountains: Exploring the Origins of Appalachian Stereotypes." Journal of Social History 32 (1999): 963.
Faulkner portrays the townspeople and Emily in the southern town of Jefferson during the late 1800's to early 1900's. The town is more than just the setting in the story; it takes on its own characterization alongside Emily the main character. It is the main reasoning behind Emily's attitude and actions. It gives the reader an easier understanding into why Emily makes the decisions she does as the story unwinds.
Proposed Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina-Tennessee. Map. S.l., 1926. Mapping the National Parks. Lib. of Congress. 15 March 2010.
The use of Regionalism is one of the most important aspects of Southern Writers such as Faulkner or O’Connor. It does not just label them as Southern Writers but it gives them a special type of writing that can not be achieve by any author. By the use of Faulkner’s fake county of Yoknapatawhpa, one would believe this to be real county because of the passion that Falkner puts into the detail of explaining it; however little do they know that he models it after his home town of Lafayette. Falkner uses the fake county of Yoknatawhpa to describe the economy, topographical, and cultural traits of his southern home county. It just does not stop with the regions, but he uses characters to show some of the most controversial aspects of the South such as racism. Racism doesn’t just stick to African Americans but he also writes about the segregation between rich white landowners and the poor white landowners. Falkner does not just stop with using writing to talk about issues that involve everyday situations but he writes Flags in the Dust, which is about the unhealthy development of the South during war times. He also writes about some of the things that he enjoyed the most while he was child and uses them as a symbol of the South such as horses. Without the use of Faulkner’s regionalism his stories would not have the same impact, therefore it is important to notice Faulkner as a Southern Writer.
This area of the world is so foreign to my Oklahoma life; it infuses me with awe, and with an eerie feeling of being strongly enclosed by huge mountains, and the mass of tall trees. However, when my foot first steps onto the dusty trail it feels crazily magical. The clean, crisp air, the new smell of evergreen trees and freshly fallen rain is mixed with fragrances I can only guess at. It is like the world has just taken a steroid of enchantment! I take it all in, and embrace this new place before it leaves like a dream and reality robs the moment. As I turn and look at my family, I was caught by my reflection in their impressions. The hair raising mischief in the car was forgotten and now it was time to be caught up in this newness of life. It was as if the whole world around us had changed and everyone was ready to engulf themselves in it. The trickling of water somewhere in the distance and the faint noise of animals all brought the mountains to