The Moos And Sparrow

703 Words3 Pages
In the short story “The Moose and the Sparrow” the plot, setting and characters contribute to the theme – Anyone can be capable of something extraordinary. After looking at the characters, plot and setting, one will come to see that this is true. The plot of the short story helps contribute to the theme. Cecil, a college graduate, gets himself a job at a lumber camp in British Columbia, trying to make some money for University. He meets Moose Maddon who is very jealous of Cecil and acts in a hateful way towards him. Moose even tried to physically hurt Cecil. Cecil feels comforted from most of the workers and particularly from a man named Mr. Anderson or Pop. One morning Moose’s body is found at the bottom of a deep ravine outside the camp, but the death is soon declared an accident. Pop later notices, after Cecil has left, burn marks in the bark of two small trees that faces each other diagonally across the ravine, which might have been made by wire loops. A wire stretch between the two trees would easily have tripped a man crossing the log bridge into the ravine. The setting of the short story helps contribute to the theme. The story takes place in the 16th or 17th century, which is suggested by the use of planes, in a logging camp in the forests of British Columbia. Mainly, the workers’ lives are described with Cecil, Moose and Pop in the foreground. Based on the fact that the workers sit outside the bunkhouses in the evenings, it is safe to believe that the story did not take place at wintertime. The camp is located on a riverbank, because the narrator, on more than one occasion, refers to the river; for example, “…I was walking along the river having an after-supper pipe…”. It is also indicated that the camp is located by other camps close by, when Moose leaves to drink and play poker in Camp Three because he has to travel through the woods by foot.
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