Setting-The Fens, London, and the World
The Fenlands of eastern England happen to be the location for a good portion of Waterland. This setting holds fertile land that most men would pray for, yet the curse is the barren and incredibly flat landscape. In many parts of the novel Mr. Swift describes how reality is often to much for mankind to bear, and just like reality- the flatness of the region- can be an overload. The landscape stresses the motif that life can be difficult and that an individual person is truly alone. This constant introspection can create people of greatness or crumble those that were believed to be great. Not only introspective, but the ever present silt also battles against the work of the landowners and tenants This form or Nature & Self vs. Self is what life can be surmised as, and Graham Swift knew this when writing in a setting.
London with its urbanized and modern housing, culture, and architecture is visually anything but flat. It would be almost impossible to avoid getting lost at one point or another, yet somehow Tom and Mary Crick end up both lost amongst themselves. The fact that this scene change occurs later in life might hint to the fact that once and individual looks introspectively they cannot help but continue their own quest. Also, it may show how crazy society is naturally. In small, close knit communities the instability of Mary in her later years would most likely have been noticed, yet the fact that a large city would notice not a thing is strangely contradictory to logic.
Finally after introducing all of these locations Swift brings forth the world on the grand stage of both world wars. During these wars gasses, mechanical contraptions, and a physical atom bomb were created. With such great ideas and brains that are available one could very well assume that progress could be very rapidly made, but instead humanity embarked on quests of genocide. This can leave any reader with a sense of amazement, yet is it surprising? Constantly creating broadening setting, Graham Swift wants to portray a world that will never make sense. A world that makes little sense because the inhabitants, the living, can never make sense of it all.
London with its urbanized and modern housing, culture, and architecture is visually anything but flat. It would be almost impossible to avoid getting lost at one point or another, yet somehow Tom and Mary Crick end up both lost amongst themselves. The fact that this scene change occurs later in life might hint to the fact that once and individual looks introspectively they cannot help but continue their own quest. Also, it may show how crazy society is naturally. In small, close knit communities the instability of Mary in her later years would most likely have been noticed, yet the fact that a large city would notice not a thing is strangely contradictory to logic.
Finally after introducing all of these locations Swift brings forth the world on the grand stage of both world wars. During these wars gasses, mechanical contraptions, and a physical atom bomb were created. With such great ideas and brains that are available one could very well assume that progress could be very rapidly made, but instead humanity embarked on quests of genocide. This can leave any reader with a sense of amazement, yet is it surprising? Constantly creating broadening setting, Graham Swift wants to portray a world that will never make sense. A world that makes little sense because the inhabitants, the living, can never make sense of it all.