Blog Post #2: Ashika

Setting is one of the most important things for an author to acknowledge in a book. To me, it’s key in order to visualize. Farmer has chosen the perfect setting for this book. In the beginning she has clearly got the scene of the vast poppy fields with one little house in a country called Opium, between the United States and what was once Mexico where Matt and Celia lived. It was a good decision to choose a quiet or unknown area because if they were to make the setting somewhere in a big city with lots of people, the story wouldn’t make much sense considering Matt is quite clueless to the ‘outside world’. Therefore, if Farmer had placed this house in a large city with many people, she wouldn’t be able to go with the fact that Matt hadn’t seen the world unless it was through a television screen.

  Moving further into the story, Matt gets introduced to a newer setting which is the Alacran Estate, a much larger house than what he was used to. He didn't see much of it until he was released from the Prison he was held captive in by Rosa. After being released he was brought into several other settings such as the river Tam Lin took him to for a picnic. The pond was a place that they would not have to worry about being watched. It was a safe place for them both, I think thats why it was so important to Tam Lin. Knowing he was being watched all day, being able to go there and being able to speak his mind  must have been really significant to him. 

Lastly, the closet where Matt had discovered the music room where he saw Felicila playing piano was quite the important event. Not only did he discover her amazing talent, but that dusty closet led him to discover many other 'secret' passages in the house that I would assume he was not meant to find out. I believe that these passageways will later lead him into possibly a great amount of trouble and defiantly lead into many other settings.