The Lost World: Setting

Rollins Olmsted
Setting

As Voltaire wrote, “It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.” Perhaps, these words describe Richard Levine’s rationale for eagerly rushing off to Isla Sorna in search of genetically manufactured dinosaurs which exist in a 20th century lost world. Isla Sorna, an isolated and undeveloped island off the Costa Rican coast, is the setting of Michael Crichton’s novel The Lost World. Crichton’s vivid and perilous setting is essential to the novel’s plot, and its major themes. As Levine arrived on the island, “He looked at the jungle around him. It was primary forest, undisturbed by the hand of man. This island existed as a kind of lost world, isolated in the midst of the Pacific Ocean” (40). Due to Crichton’s imagery and dramatic language, the reader is instantly aware of the consequences produced when mankind attempts to alter the laws of nature and inserts himself into a natural habitat in which he does not belong. In addition, the novel’s setting parallels our planet some 65 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed Earth in abundance. Though Crichton could have elected to change the novel’s time period, his choice of modern day corresponds perfectly with the current debates involving the moral and ethical concerns associated with cloning and stem cell research. On the other hand, Crichton may have found changing the story’s location quite a challenge. As the title suggests, Isla Sorna is a lost world. In order for Crichton’s narrative to develop, the plot must unfold in a concealed corner of the world where prehistoric species could survive even today. Crichton describes the island’s landscape as being “rugged, volcanic terrain, overgrown with the dense jungle” (103). The dangerous and mysterious setting appeals to my adventurous spirit and inquisitive mind, and I would want to feel and be affected by it. Can you imagine actually walking with dinosaurs? All the same, any visitor to Isla Sorna would be wise to remember that beauty can be deceiving and certain places can be lovely yet deadly.

7th period is the best period there is!!!!

hey

Yo yo yo hello Mrs. Remaud, I am on your blog and you didnt even know.