Similarities Between 'Winter Counts And Every Hidden Thing'

Landon Barlow Ms. Lattari English 9 17 April 2024 The Powerful Effect of the Setting South Dakota is known as the Land of Infinite Variety, from the weather all the way to the scenery and surroundings. Two novels that take place in South Dakota are Winter Counts by David Heska-Wanbli Weiden and Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel. Winter Counts tells the story of Virgil’s journey to find Rick Crow, a drug dealer. Virgil was hired to take him down. The novel, Every Hidden Thing, is about two paleontologists, Rex and Rachel. Rex and Rachel are in a competition to see who can find the ancient fossil, black beauty, first. These novels are very different, yet the main characters have the same goal. Oppel’s novel focuses on the journey to find a fossil,
All of this leads to how setting influences thinking and social awareness in the environment they are in. Weiden and Oppel both use settings that represent the change in characters’ actions in response to environmental surroundings. In both novels, the main characters are always trying to gain information. The characters always look for clues in the setting to help with finding information. Virgil walks into his nephew's room while visiting. When he arrives, he notices something is wrong. “I opened the door and saw that he was passed out on his bed, all of his clothes still on, one arm hanging down at his side” (Weiden 34). Very quickly, Virgil grasps that something bad has happened to his nephew, Nathan. With the view of Nathan’s pale skin and arm hanging freely by his side, Virgil realizes that Nathan has overdosed. Virgil used his surroundings to gain information on what was currently happening. Similar to Virgil, Rachel used her surroundings to figure something out. When Rachel returns to camp, she is greeted by her father, who is waiting for her. “He sat on a crate near our stove, his saddlebag near his