San Piedro is important to Guterson this is obvious by the way he lovingly describes this place “that has a verdant beauty which inclines its residents towards the poetical.” He uses many wonderful words in the first chapter to really draw us into the island, “haphazard”, “pleasant muddle”, “fragrant”, and “pristine”, this is in the first chapter alone. He really wants to make us feel at home here, he wants us to fall in love with the place too. Guterson really succeeds in this way to portray his love of the island and just how important he thinks it is for the reader to get a feel of the place. Setting in this novel is forefront you get this impression by the amount of time Guterson spends describing and the depth in which he describes San Piedro, “enormous hills, soft green with cedars rose and fell in every direction, the island homes were damp and moss covered and lay in solitary fields”, this is just a small extract but it really brings to life the island and is quite average of the language Guterson uses.
Although this book is predominantly about a brutal murder Guterson tries to convince us of the fact that this is actually a peaceful place, we are even given a brief history of the island and the crimes that have taken place, Guterson goes to panes to convince us that these crimes happened years ago and the island is devoid of trouble, .”.. named by Spaniards… in 1603… who sent a work detail ashore… who were murdered… by Nootka slave raiders”, “a few rooting were slaughtered in 1845”, and also Guterson in the part informs us that the last violent crime to be of any news was the “wounding of a resident…
The Essay on The nature of crime
The nature of crime embodies the offences made against the state representing society and the population. Within this concept is the operation of principles going to the rights of the victim and the accused in the criminal law process. This process encompasses the commission and elements of the crime going to the actus reus (action of the accused), mens rea (intention of the accused) and causal ...
With a shotgun in 1951″ and reminds us once more that the island is “generally clear of violence”, to me Guterson is trying to win our trust in the island by telling us its bad points then brushing them over with his last statement about the island being clear of violence he seems to be trying to get us to forget about the murder the book is centered round by then going into describing the harbor of the island and its inhabitants. The weather on San Piedro isn’t to the reader at all that pleasant but Guterson always manages to win us back, he tells us how the snow “lashes at the leaded panes” but makes it feel to us like a winter wonderland and some where to be considered beautiful by describing to us the “expression of awe” on the islanders face as they watch though those leaded windows. Also he describes the residents as “damp souls” and the island as .” Rainy, wind-beaten, sea village, downtrodden and mildewed”, these words don’t exactly bring San Piedro into a marvelous light yet seem to have the reverse of what you would think and to me anyway make the island appear in a kind of rustic charm with just adds depth to the place. Guterson really succeeds in bringing San Piedro to life and making the reader fall in love with the island and the inhabitants.
