Prentisstown By Jamestown Analysis Questions

Analysis Questions
The setting is constantly changing; however, the story takes place on a planet called “New World”, where everyone can see and hear each other’s Noise (thoughts), and begins in Prentisstown, a small town nearby a swamp consisting of 146 pessimistic men and no women whatsoever. This setting gives off a sullen atmosphere because everyone in the town is unhappy, so not only do we witness the narrator’s depressing thoughts, we also witness every other character’s troubled thoughts. All this negativity contributes to the speaker’s bitterness and is what makes him despise “every minute of every day” of his “stupid, stinking life in this stupid, stinking town (Ness 20)”. The setting soon shifts to the swamp and countryside near Prentisstown, where most of the protagonist's adventures take place. It has “no fences, no fields of crops, and no signs of any kind of settlement or people except for the dusty road itself (Ness 227)”. The only noise the place has are from critters, which aren’t as chaotic as humans’, making the place a somewhat peaceful and neutral ground from the havoc of a settlement called Prentisstown. The setting then lingers in a town called “Farbranch”, the contrasting …show more content…
While Prentisstown is like the “black Noise” the narrator is used to, Farbranch is like “taking a bath in comparison (Ness 180)”, meaning that Prentisstown is hazardous and overwhelming, whereas Farbranch is