One of Conroy’s great strengths and definitely my weakness is setting. Tom Wingo’s New York and South Carolina sprang up as complete pictures in mere sentences. I knew where I was at all times. In one sentence he tells us a concrete location along with significant details, “I grew up slowly beside the tides and marshes of Colleton; my arms were tawny and strong from working long days on the shrimp boat in the blazing South Carolina heat.” One beautifully written sentence and I already know so much. When my story was critiqued in my fiction class I realized for the first time that I hadn’t set the place for my story. I knew in my mind that it was the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I failed to portray that, partly because I was unsure whether I wanted my location to be a factual place or a purely fictional one. I described the forest, one I walk in often, but I forgot to mention it’s in Georgia. Conroy’s novel taught me that location can be as important as the characters and the plot. The town of Colleton is specific and exact. The local people, with their traditions like Mr. Fruit and Amos’ walk with the cross, and the marshes and rivers, which come alive through Conroy’s beautiful descriptions, are more than filler and background; these are the things that make Tom Wingo’s life and world become real, moving, and lasting.
Conroy also demonstrates how significantly location affects and shapes his characters. Lowenstein is a New Yorker through and through – she knows the rules of elite Manhattan society and she is as worldly and sophisticated as the city she lives in. For Savannah, the South is a monstrous place that threatens to strangle her. Her rejection of all things Southern defines her New York existence, and yet the beauty of the South Carolina landscape weaves its way into her poetry again and again. Luke is the character most tragically affected by his setting and his passion for it; Colleton is so ingrained into his identity that he cannot live without it.
In my story, I’ve been concentrating on a wide idea of modern western society. I see now that I forgot how important a specific and local setting can be. Conroy’s work reminds me I can’t write a story based in the South and then let the history, landscape, and characteristics of such a rich place play a minor, trivial role.
Jessica, I totally agree with you that Conroy sets up beautiful detailed scenes for the reader. The thing I noticed most about the scene was that I didn't notice it. While I could see and smell and hear New York and South Carolina, I did not notice that Conroy was giving me the details that painted the picture. He is an artist whose strokes come together into a seamless portrait.
ReplyDeleteYou are completely correct. Like you, I forget to create the setting - too focused on character and plot. Yet setting really is another character in Conroy's novel, and the story is richer because of that. Conroy is definitely someone to model our writing after.
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ReplyDeleteSetting is also difficult for me. I still struggle with providing description and detail and learned a lot about each by reading this novel. Great points in your third paragraph about how the relationship between character and place affects and shapes them.
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