The Lost Continent as an Epic

Lost Continent as an Epic What makes a story an epic? In the book, The Lost Continent written by Bill Bryson, Bill travels across the continent of North America starting in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. Bill Bryson explores each region of the North American continent from north to south and east to west. While traveling Bill Bryson is in search of a perfect small town. The Lost Continent is a journey traveling across North America with Bill Bryson as the hero and New England as the underworld and Bryson is trying to find his perfect small town to make his story a true epic. Bill Bryson takes on his journey while traveling across North America to find his perfect small town that preserves, restores, rich, and white. Bill Bryson was in search of a perfect small town which he thought he could find somewhere in North America. Bill Bryson states, "I did not know such perfection existed in America" (Bryson 78). During Bill Bryson 's journey, he does not know perfection exist in America until his search for a perfect small town. Bill Bryson thought he found the perfect small town in Georgia, in the city of Savannah. Bryson comments, "Savannah was the most becoming American city I had ever seen, but it thumped into second place soon after my arrival in Charleston" (83). While Bryson is on his journey he visits Savannah, and he thinks it is his perfect small town until he reaches Charleston and this changes his mind, and now he thinks that Charleston, South Carolina is the closes town to his perfect small town. Bill Bryson wants the perfect small town that preserves, restores, and is rich. Bill Bryson expresses, "The quintessential American small town, a picturesque and timeless community where every structure houses a genius" (182). This American small town expresses the characteristics that restores and have the richest of the rich, which Bill Bryson wants his perfect small town to have. The perfect small town for Bryson also preserves, restores, and is rich,

Cited: Bryson, Bill. The Lost Continent. New York, New York: First Harper Perennial, 1989.