the cone gathers - setting

Setting – The Wood

What it represents to each of the central characters

Calum

· Hated by Duror but he envies his purity and innocence and how at peace he is with nature

· He is portrayed as part animal himself 'composed of angel & ape'

· At one with nature

· Likes the hut he and his brother stay in – carves simple animals

· Very skilled in trees & leads his brother, different on ground where he stumbles and his disability has a profound effect on his life

· (p4)'better than any of them' at climbing: ‘with consummate confidence and grace he began the descent through the inner night of the great tree’

· Feels safe in the tree and closer to his mother(p2)

· Tries to release the rabbit cannot bring himself to kill it

· He is freed from his disability in the trees

· 'in it he was as indigenous as squirrel or bird'

· He feels safe with the wildlife and they feel safe around him

· Calum cannot comprehend the suffering which takes place within the wood

Neil McPhie

« Seems slightly embittered towards the whole of it. Pg1, “…gazed at the great house with calm yet bitter intentness and anticipation…”.

« Resentful towards LRC and belittled as the living conditions are very poor. Pg 3, “…don’t we live in a box fit for monkeys?”, “Yonder’s a house with fifty rooms”. It is probable that he is unaware of the reason they don’t live in the beach hut is due to Duror. Pg40, “She would have given the cone-gatherers the beach hut, if Duror had not dissuaded her…”.

« Experiences the woods as a prison of sorts. Pg7. “I don’t like it here as much as you seem to. I’d far rather be back at Ardmore, cutting the bracken or clearing the drains”. Pg8. “He…