What elements and qualities of a piece of writing make it tangible to readers? For one, a story needs to have a strong setting. Especially, with many attributes of nature and the animals who thrive off of natural resources. Besides a strong setting, a great story will have a resilient main character capable of providing for oneself and loved ones. But of course, a distinctive language that breaks the traditional rules of grammar will be present as well. One author known for exhibiting each one of these elements within his writing is Daniel Woodrell. He has written many stunning and captivating works like Winter’s Bone, Give Us a Kiss, and The Maid’s Version. Yet, he received the most praise for Winter’s Bone and the infamous Jennifer Lawrence
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Specifically, in a Winter’s Bone, Woodrell works hard to illustrate the unknown Ozarks in Missouri, where he currently resides. This mysterious area holds a tight-knit community based on blood lineage, who normalize drug use and crime into their culture. Much of the Ozarks contain thick forestry with rocky ledges, waterways, and trails, that during the winter months get covered in heavy blankets of snow. For example, when Ree Dolly, Woodrell’s main character in a Winter’s Bone, peers out the kitchen window, she discusses how “the sky came into the valley low, glum and blustery, about to bust open and snow” (Woodrell 7). By choosing to personify the sky, instead of discussing it’s colored appearance Woodrell creates a captivating image that adds to the setting and makes the main character’s feelings clear as well. Not to mention, that Woodrell makes the Ozarks fundamentally alike to other areas, by mentioning how winter winds “shove tree limbs around and whistled past the window frame” (Woodrell 7). Likewise to the winter months in New England, where everyone gets battered by Nor’easters that have upwards of 30 miles per hour winds, and several feet of snow that accumulates. But, besides an entrancing winter setting in the Ozarks of Winter’s Bone, Woodrell incorporates a tough protagonist who inspires other writers to create powerful
Specifically, in a Winter’s Bone, Woodrell works hard to illustrate the unknown Ozarks in Missouri, where he currently resides. This mysterious area holds a tight-knit community based on blood lineage, who normalize drug use and crime into their culture. Much of the Ozarks contain thick forestry with rocky ledges, waterways, and trails, that during the winter months get covered in heavy blankets of snow. For example, when Ree Dolly, Woodrell’s main character in a Winter’s Bone, peers out the kitchen window, she discusses how “the sky came into the valley low, glum and blustery, about to bust open and snow” (Woodrell 7). By choosing to personify the sky, instead of discussing it’s colored appearance Woodrell creates a captivating image that adds to the setting and makes the main character’s feelings clear as well. Not to mention, that Woodrell makes the Ozarks fundamentally alike to other areas, by mentioning how winter winds “shove tree limbs around and whistled past the window frame” (Woodrell 7). Likewise to the winter months in New England, where everyone gets battered by Nor’easters that have upwards of 30 miles per hour winds, and several feet of snow that accumulates. But, besides an entrancing winter setting in the Ozarks of Winter’s Bone, Woodrell incorporates a tough protagonist who inspires other writers to create powerful