Setting plays a major role in “North Country,” and other settings would present a different set of challenges. What are some of the challenges the main character faces upon moving to the UP? Do these challenges exist due to where the character finds herself? Why/why not? How does she attempt to manage the challenges she finds in the UP?
There are several problems that the environment creates, including the uncomfortableness resulting from the cold and harsh weather and the loneliness that the sparsely populated area creates. Both challenges would most certainly still exist if Kate was living somewhere else, but the setting multiplies their negative effect on her, obviously a deliberate choice. Kate attempts to ignore her problems and focus on work, but both the worsening of her problems and the increasing happiness that Magnus gives her forces her to finally deal with these underlying problems.
Contemplate the 2 main plot lines we discussed in class today. Do you feel this story would fall into either one of them? Why/ why not?
I believe this story absolutely fits the two main plotlines, as 1) Kate takes a literal journey by moving to Michigan to start a new job after her baby dies and Kate’s inability to allow Magnus to make her happy also certainly constitutes a journey, albeit an emotional one, and 2) there is a stranger that comes to town, but in this story it is the main character Kate.
”North Country” is told in 1st person. What do you sense the narrator is leaving out? If she’s hiding information, what reason from the text could be behind her tentativeness? Explain
I believe that Kate is certainly leaving out some details regarding her past, as she only really gives us the one, and particularly detail-lacking, monologue of her past-life. Of course, this is justified as her dead baby and cheating boyfriend made it a pretty tough life, but it is interesting that she keeps it out of her own story and own thoughts.
Why does everyone keep asking her if she’s from Detroit?
Kate is continually asked if she is from Detroit because she is an African American in a very white area of Michigan. This is a literary device used to remind us of how different Kate is from the people around her and how she is an outcast in her new home.
Tell me if you liked this story better than “Fat”–explain why/why not
I indeed liked “North Country” more than “Fat” because it gave us more answers to the thoughts, backgrounds and past of the characters, ended in a more satisfying manner, and presented the story of a very broken woman finding her balance and happiness once again in an extremely intelligent and entertaining way.
