Setting. The setting of a literary work is the time and place in which it happens. Setting in a literary work is revealed by details that describe the environment in which the story takes place—a particular landscape, season, town, or room, for example. Setting can be used to compare or contrast different experiences or situations. It can also be used to show the passing of time, to create mood, and to develop characters and plot. As you read, consider how important setting is in this story.
Mood. Mood is the feeling or emotion that the writer creates in a literary work. By working carefully with descriptive language, the writer can evoke in the reader an emotional response such as fear, longing, or anticipation. As you read, think about the mood the author creates in the story and write a word or phrase to describe the mood.
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• Geography Connection. Northwestern New Mexico features a dramatic landscape of river valleys, mountain ranges, deserts, and mesas. At its northwestern border New Mexico shares a common point with Colorado, Utah, and Arizona known as the Four Corners. If you stand at this point, you can boast that you are in four states at the same time. The Navajo Nation, with a population of about 200,000 people, is the largest American Indian nation in the United States. Navajo lands span almost 3 million acres across Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.
• History Connection. The term Navajo comes from the Tewa Indian word for “large area of cultivated land.” The Navajo people refer to themselves as Diné, which means “the people.” The Navajo peoples moved into the area that is now New Mexico in the 1300s. They lived as a semi-nomadic group, traveling to hunt and planting corn in established locations. During the 1300s and 1400s, they became known as a band of raiders, attacking the Pueblo Indians and fighting Utes, Comanches, and other local groups. When Spanish conquistadores appeared in the area in the mid-1500s, they attempted to move the Native groups into missions and towns and to convert them to Christianity. Some groups complied, but the Navajo violently resisted these changes. Fiercely fighting the Spaniards and their Indian allies, the Navajo remained free and outside Spanish control for 200 years. In the mid- to late 1700s, the Navajo suffered losses due to fighting, and their crops were diminished from drought and destruction. Land grants allowed numerous Spanish settlers to establish ranches on Navajo lands.
• In 1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain, but less than 30 years later—in 1848—New Mexico and the rest of the region that now makes up the Southwest became part of the United States. U.S. forces built Fort Defiance in Navajo country in 1851. Fighting between the U.S. forces and the Navajo continued until 1864, when the U.S. Army captured more than 8,000 Navajo and marched them 350 miles to Fort Sumner, where they were forced to remain in captivity. When released, the survivors were forced into a reservation that was one-tenth the size of their original lands and contained none of their best grazing lands or water resources.
Think of one of your favorite places to be. In what ways does being there affect your mood? What do you do when you are there?
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