I loved how the setting in "The Snow Goose" becomes almost like a character in the story. In the introduction, the marshlands are described:
"Grays and blues and soft greens are the colors, for when the skies are dark in the long winters, the many waters of the beaches and marshes reflect the cold and somber color. But sometimes, with sunrise and sunset, sky and land are aflame with red and golden fire."
We also learn how the sea "spreads its rippled blanket" over the site, and how Rhayader paints the "loneliness and the smell of the salt-laden cold, the eternity and agelessness of marshes, the wild, living creatures, dawn flights, and frightened things taking to the air, and winged shadows at night hiding from the moon."
How did the setting influence your reading of the story?
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The setting was tremendous. I love how Rhayader devotes himself to re-creating the beauty of the natural world in his paintings, and, more importantly, that he's rarely satisfied that he has come close to matching it. Painting is all visual, but the successful painting is nevertheless one that captures the other senses: the feeling of loneliness, the smell of salt-laden cold. It's a complete sensory experience.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling you get when you behold a great painting is the feeling you get when you behold the greatness of Creation. A sense of eternity that's still, in the end, ephemeral. The sea reclaims the land. Paintings get lost in attics. But the human capacity for recognition and wonder lives on, from soul to soul.
There's also a notion in the book that people despoil the land, with war, with hunting animals — and all this manmade destruction is paltry and ignoble, compared with the destructive (and also life-giving) force of the great ocean waves.
The setting was beautifully described. I read the opening descriptions at least three times to make sure I was getting all the details. What results is a really vivid image. I could easily picture the lighthouse and Rhayader and Frith standing on the cliff, with the wind and sea air and birds flying overhead.
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