Death By Landscape Analysis

In the essay, “A Literature of Place”, Barry Lopez expresses the importance of nature as it applies to human life. Through this he states that humans’ imagination are inspired by the scenery around them. Lopez revolves around a central perspective; Ancient american literature has always been rooted in nature. By acknowledging that modern human identity has been interpreted by nature, Lopez describes how the landscape of an area can shape the structure of the communities and how it can help with spiritual collapse. Nature writing has often been summarised by being one of the oldest threads in american literature. With our nation's aging one needs to reflect on their literary past; therefore, Lopez insists that we find our path to nature that

In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context,” includes a series of short anecdotes in which are all defined by environment and how society shapes mankind. While reading these short stories Gladwell put into the novel, the audience can conclude that the rules of society have the power to shape a person or community. When reading “The Power of Context,” the reader must be able to grasp the understanding of how environment can affect an individual. One would say nature is the setting in which a person is brought up, nurture is the care variable one has the power to influence how they behave or how the setting can define who they are. In this style of writing Gladwell uses, shifts in societies behaviors tell stories of how the setting can influence behaviors of the main characters.

Paul also openly criticizes conformity frequently throughout the story. Paul’s criticisms can be seen in his detailed observations of people and their routines. However, none of these criticisms compare to Paul’s hate for his home on Cordelia Street. Cather describes Cordeila Street, noting that all the houses are identical, as well as its inhabitants. Following the description of the street, Cather describes Paul’s hatred for his mediocrity plagued home is expressed: “Paul never went up Cordelia Street without a shudder of loathing… he approached it to-night with the nerveless sense of defeat, the hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home”(Pg. 5). Later on in the story, while Paul is in New York and is contemplating his fear of being reprimanded for his actions, he constantly reminds himself of the painful existence that awaits him on Cordelia Street: “It was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever. The grey monotony stretched before him in hopeless, unrelieved years”(Pg. 13). Cather seems to use Cordiela street as a all-encompassing metaphor for conformist society; and Paul’s individuality and hate for Cordiela Street serves as the contrasting element, in turn becoming the most

Willa Cather's "Paul's Case," displays the conflict between conformity and individuality through the main character, Paul. On a number of occasions, Paul is forced to lie and steal to escape the conformists who wish to control him and stifle his unique imagination. However, his lying, stealing, and attempts to escape the conformists, only force Paul into isolation, depression, and feeling a sense of shame for his individuality. Throughout the story one might see Cather's constant contrast of individuality versus conformity, as well as Paul's lying and stealing. Cather seems to draw the conclusion that extreme individuals, much like Paul are simply misunderstood, and not offered the acceptance they desire

Paul was never content with his house on Cordelia Street and was always dreaming about "movin' on up" while he worked at Carnegie Hall and watched the actors and actresses move about in their stately attire and live in the most luxurious of hotel suites. Because of this dream to get out of the area in which he lived, Paul hardly ever got along with his teachers and his father. The thought of taking full advantage of

Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" is a story about a young 16 year-old man, Paul, who is motherless and alienated. Paul's lack of maternal care has led to his alienation. He searches for the aesthetics in life that that he doesn't get from his yellow wallpaper in his house and his detached, overpowering father figure in his life. Paul doesn't have any interests in school and his only happiness is in working at Carnegie Hall and dreams of one-day living the luxurious life in New York City. Paul surrounds himself with the aesthetics of music and the rich and wealthy, as a means to escape his true reality.

The only place Paul is able to escape his reality and unfulfilling life is at Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall is a haven for Paul and gives him the classy atmosphere of the arts that he lacks in his life. He has an usher job at Carnegie Hall and unlike his house and school, Paul enjoys going there to work. He is able to escape and be with the rich and attractive people that come to the hall.

They were special to Lois not for who the artists were, but because of the feeling they cause to well up inside her. Lois found them to be not, “[…] peaceful in the least. Looking at them fills her with a wordless unease” (Atwood, 9). Lois felt that there was someone looking out from behind the paintings, when it was just landscapes (Atwood, 9). This was when Lois was thinking about Lucy and her sudden passing in the beginning of the story without fully revealing it.

Since the beginning of the tale, Lucy Pevensie shows her personality through her spunky attitude, persevering faith and valiant courage. Despite the wretched situation of the war, and the sad separation from her parents so the children could live safer in the country, Lucy’s attitude remains positive the entire way through. Even when her siblings skeptically doubt her ridiculous adventure in a magical world inside a wardrobe, Lucy

Human behavior is tremendously influenced by its environment. If someone is driving in the middle of the storm they might act franticly, whereas if a person is relaxing at home they might act calmly. The actions of characters in short stories also follow this trait. The setting in the story “Outage”, by John Updike, allows the characters to escape “reality” and have an affair, whereas the setting in “To Build a Fire” acts as the antagonist in the story and proves to be a significant obstacle to our protagonist. The effects of the settings are clear in the plot and character interactions.

For Lois, the paintings in the story signify her camping past. Although Lois does not particularly have great love for the paintings, they are important to her because they link her to her unfinished past. She’s still holding on to the Lucy’s disappearance and maybe those paintings remind her of that. She’s afraid that if she lets go of the paintings, she will be letting go of her memories of Lucy. Lois’s guilt plays a huge role in her action and feelings towards the paintings.

The act of realization allowed the protagonist to be conscious of their tranquility. Although Lois is unease by the paintings of landscapes she found inner peace by acknowledging that it was part of her life. Lois admits herself that she did not enjoy the painting either as they make her feel anxious. Her anxiousness was not enough to stop her from buying and filling her house with these artworks. Although, the drawings of landscapes brought back unwanted memories for Lois, the paintings brought happiness and wealth in the artist’s life. Similar to how Lucy helped brought joy to Lois’ life. Lois was able to accept her fears through purchasing artwork of wilderness to remind her of the good times she had with Lucy. “This [is] where Lucy is.”

Death by Landscape does not end at this point. Lois is looking at the paintings on her wall. In all her paintings she sees her friend Lucy and she still can hear her shouting. On page eight block one Atwood writes that a dead person is a body and occupies space, a grave, but Lucy has no body, no grave. She only exists in Lois’ mind and – in her pictures on the wall. “You can’t see her exactly, but she’s there…” (page 8, block 2). Everyone has to be somewhere and the paintings are where Lucy is. In Lois’ mind she is still alive. Lois was going through the happenings of this particular day again and again, throughout her life, torturing herself with guilt and never really finding peace. This feeling of guilt was implanted in her mind from the frustrated owner of Camp Manitou, knowing about the consequences of the loss of a child in her camp. Lois knew that she didn’t push Lucy off the cliff, but she left her alone, just for a moment, unattended and unwatched, knowing about her unhappy family situation, knowing Lucy didn’t want to return to her

Within the story, Lois comes to the realization that she collects the paintings because she can see Lucy hiding in them; not her physical self, but rather, she can imagine that Lucy is in them; in some way, she has found her long lost friend and is holding on to her. Is that all there is to it, though? I think it is worth analyzing just what sort of paintings that Lois is collecting. The Canadian wilderness is beautiful in its own right; the paintings that Lois collects, however, are particularly barren. That is the theme the artists of these paintings from the group of seven were trying to capture. The Canadian landscape is cold, often looking dead or uninviting, because it is either overgrown or particularly empty. What Lois is collecting is not just the recollections of her possibly dead, either way estranged friend. Lois, in a way, is harvesting herself.

Everyone copes with their issues differently. They can either acknowledge it or try their best to forget it. Not that it would be easy removing traumatic experiences out of a person’s mind like that. However, sometimes people can share their problems in ways they are not aware of. For example, there could be two people who face different problems, but have similar ways to approach it. It could be noted by two characters in different stories. In “Bang Crunch” by Neil Smith and “Death by a Landscape” by Margaret Atwood, Eepie and Lois both face their experiences in similar ways. They face their problems as young girls, which results in them being judged by society, and end up having closure for their problems.