In The Country Of Last Things English Literature Essay

These things can’t be find in the book. The story takes place in a city that is separated from the world. I personally think it is about a city on the western coast of North America. I think every bit of this happens in the future but not many years from now.

Can you give information about the characters in the story (names, jobs, relationships, etc)?

I will name the most important characters and tell you who they are. I will also provide you with information about some strange jobs that are done and groups that appear in this city.

Anna:

Anna is a nice young girl whose brother went in the city and didn’t come back. She goes to the city to find him, and she has another mission: find Samuel Farr, some other reporter that went to the city. In the city she adapts fast to the new circumstances and becomes Object Hunter. When she finds Samuel she helps him with his book and they fall in love. She gets pregnant but loses her baby when she jumps out of a window. Later in the hospital she sees the other side of the city: there is still a good place!

Isabel:

Isabel is an old lady. Anna saves her live and they become friends. She is an Object Hunter and even though she is not fast she is pretty good at it. She starts to do the object hunting together with Anna but then she gets ill, she would never recover.

But all the time, until her death she has been very kind to Anna, and she always wanted to help.

Ferdinand:

Ferdinand is the husband of Isabel. He does not have a job anymore and does nothing for a living. Ferdinand is mean to his wife and to Anna, they both hate him.

He has two hobbies: creating miniature ships (in bottles) and chasing the mice in the house for food. In the end he becomes mad and tries to kill Anna.

Samuel:

Sam is a news reporter and is sent into the city but they don’t get any message from him anymore, when Anna decides to go to the city she is asked to search for this man. Sam has started working on a book about the city. He talks with a lot of people and this way he knows everything about the city. He is close to death but Anna brings new hope in his life, especially when she has become pregnant.

After his house and book the book went up in flames he became nicer to everyone and he finally got a better life at Woburn

Boris:

Boris is a strange guy who is working at Woburn House, he does supply the Hospital of every kind of stuff. He talks about a lot of strange things and nobody understands his thoughts but he is nice and does his job very well. In the end of the story when Woburn closes and his best friend dies he changes and his only wish is to escape from the city.

Victoria:

Victoria works at Woburn House and falls in love with Anna, when Anna is recovered she lets her work at Woburn, this way she is able to stay close to her.

She is very kind to everyone and even when Sam gets to Woburn and Anna’s attention goes to him she is only happy for them.

But even Victoria notices Woburn has to close and they have to leave the city.

Jobs that are mentioned in the book:

Scavenger:

You have to search for things others have thrown away. There are two groups of scavengers: garbage collectors and object hunters. Garbage collectors just take everything they can find, object hunters search for useable items.

It is illegal to search for things in the city without permission.

Fecalist:

You have to search for death bodies in the streets and collect them. The bodies will be burned in a power plant.

Assassin:

When someone wants to die but does not want to commit suicide he joins an Assassin Club. Now assassins are allowed to kill search and kill them.

Resurrection Agent:

Very powerful people, they have the trade monopoly and all scavengers sell their stuff to them.

The rest of the people in the city are criminals, they steal, or assault people.

Noticeable groups that are mentioned in the book:

Runners:

They run in groups as fast as they can and scream as loud as they can. They run until they die, only 10% of the people who try to commit suicide this way fail.

Leapers:

Leapers try to kill themselves by jumping off high buildings.

Crawlers:

They think all the bad things in their lives are caused by the bad things they did in the past. They lay themselves down on the ground and wait for a sign that everything is fine again.

Smilers:

Smilers think that bad weather is caused by bad thought so they try to have good and happy thoughts all day long. Which is quite hard in this city.

Is the background important for the story?

Yes, the environment in which all takes place is the main subject of the book.

The genre (e.g. SF, historical novel, fantasy, war novel, psychological thriller, detective, etc)

I am not sure about it, but I think it is something like Science Fiction, but it has no new science in it. So I guess it is just Fiction. Because it is playing in an imaginary world.

The characters

Who are the most important characters in the story?

I have already told about the most important character: Anna Blume.

Sam and Victoria are after her the most important.

Is there a character in the story you would like to get to know if it were possible? Give reasons.

I would like to meet Anna. She’s a young lady who is very kind to everyone.

I think we could have fun together.

Is there a character in the story you would prefer not to meet? Give reasons.

Ferdinand acts mean to everyone, I wouldn’t like to come across him.

A summary of the story’s events: describe briefly what the story is about. NB: do not copy any material from e.g. the internet, but use your own ideas)

The whole book is a letter, written by Anna to a friend.

William leaves the “normal world” and as reporter he goes to a city, after some while nobody ever hears of him anymore. His sister, Anna, is determined to go there and find him. She goes to William’s boss and he tells her to look for some man named Samuel Farr.

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But when Anna arrives at the city it becomes clear that nothing here is easy to find, not even food or an apartment. Anna starts working as a object hunter, which means she has to be outside all day long looking for useful stuff that others have thrown away.

One day she saves the life of Isabel. After this a lot changes for Anna: she lives in the apartment of Isabel and Ferdinand now, and she collects items on the streets together with Isabel. When Ferdinand and Isabel both have died Anna has to get out of the apartment because criminals kill her otherwise. She leaves with a great sum of money. After a flight she ends up in a library where she meets with Sam, the man she was looking for. He doesn’t know anything about William but he gives her shelter. While working together on a book about the city they fall in love, Anna gets pregnant. When Anna jumps out a window to save her life she loses her baby and is taken to Woburn House, one of the few good places left in the city. Here Victoria helps her to recover from her wounds and they fall in love together. When Anna is recovered, Victoria offers her a job so they can stay together, but then Sam comes around. He is offered a job too, but Woburn is coming to it’s end, they are out of money and the hospital has to close it’s doors.

The few people who were working at Woburn want to leave the city and the books ends when they try to leave.

The Story

Do you feel that the title was well-chosen? What are your arguments?

The title is mysterious and I think that is nice. But it does not directly link to the story, the story is about a city, not a country.

Think of an alternative title. Give reasons.

An alternative title I have in mind is: “The forgotten city”. Because the book is about this city which is separated from the rest of the world.

Your personal opinion.

Did you enjoy reading the story? Why/why not?

I did enjoy reading this book because it took me into a fantasy world. Because everything in the book is so different from the things we know of I could just create the whole city in my mind and look at it the way I wanted.

Have you ever read a story that you can compare this one with?

No, this story was really unique when I compare it the rest of the literature I have read.

Explain why you would recommend this book.

It takes you away to another world. Reading this book will give you a better view at our world. And of course you will just have a really nice time reading it.

What did you learn from this book (focus on contents, not e.g. new English words)

This book makes clear that a government and a law are very important for our society. Without rules, or rules that are told by a dictator it will become a mess.

I also think it might has some elements of the cold war: the free world is way better off then the world (the city) in which everyone is controlled by the government. (like in the USSR)