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The Bell in the Lake


The engrossing epic novel - a #1 bestseller in Norway - of a young woman whose ...
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How does the environment factor into the local folklore of Butangen and villager perceptions of the outside world?

Created: 09/28/22

Replies: 14

Posted Sep. 28, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

How does the environment factor into the local folklore of Butangen and villager perceptions of the outside world?

A lot of attention is given to the environment and its harshness, especially the weather. How does this factor into the local folklore of Butangen and villager perceptions of the outside world?


Posted Sep. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The landscape and the weather, in combination, largely isolated the villagers from the rest of the world, even from other nearby communities. Over centuries they lost touch with the changes, gradual or otherwise, going on in the rest of the world. That made it difficult to communicate with infrequent newcomers and to see for themselves changes they might choose to make to improve their way of living. In the absence of new knowledge, they relied more upon the old stories and on superstitions mixed in with the old wisdom. That strengthened their sense of community, but it also left them vulnerable—-unable to adapt to changes such as their population growth and more demand for limited resources.


Posted Sep. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
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pauj

Join Date: 04/26/14

Posts: 56

RE: How does the environment factor into...

JLPen77, great points. The villagers were strongly rooted to the land and to each other. They had a strong sense of family and revered their ancestors and had a great memory for the stories they were told that had been passed down. Since it was such a harsh land, living required a great deal of time to make a living for yourself and your family, and the vagaries of the environment played hugely into their ability to eat and live.


Posted Sep. 30, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ssh

Join Date: 02/04/14

Posts: 99

RE: How does the environment factor into...

I think the environment creates and maintains the whole story. I felt it drew me into the eeriness of this other world.


Posted Sep. 30, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
johnw

Join Date: 03/11/12

Posts: 102

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The harshness of landscape and the weather together isolate the people from outside of the community causing them to focus on how things have always been done, create a "caste" society and the spread of myths and legends.


Posted Oct. 01, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Dianelouise

Join Date: 07/15/21

Posts: 27

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The extreme cold and the many hours of darkness in Butangen create an atmosphere hospitable to the supernatural, and especially to ghosts, which are a significant presence in the novel. And this same dark and cold atmosphere makes it easy for me to accept the supernatural element in the story, willingly suspending disbelief. The mountainous landscape, lack of roads, and extreme weather also make travel to the village near impossible, so isolating the Butangen villagers from the rest of the world and its science that they must continue to rely on old methods and theories that we would call superstion, like the curative powers of the rust scraped from inside the church bells.

Astrid herself feels somewhat attracted by the outside world. She is curious and excited about the prospect of the railroad, and she is also attracted by the greater availability of light in more technologically advanced places, thanks to inventions like gas lamps. She is interested in and reads Kai’s newspapers. When pregnant with twins, she travels, partly by train, to more modern Kristiana in hopes that the new method of delivery Michelson wrote of in his letter bearing the news of Gerhard’s death, C-section, may save both her life and her babies. The rest of the villagers seem mostly to ignore the outside world until with Gerhard’s arrival, it comes to stay awhile. Then they are puzzled by his activities, and reserved. Infrequent and transient visitors, like Dahl in the early part of the century (1834), make so little impression on the villagers that they barely know if they were really there. Overall, the environment in Butangen is an extremely important aspect of the story and contributed a great deal to my pleasure in this novel.


Posted Oct. 01, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Patricia Ann

Join Date: 05/24/21

Posts: 72

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The mountainous, isolated environment does seem to contribute to the local folklore. Although the winters were very harsh and dark, transportation to other places improved while the lake was frozen and they could move across it. The darkness contributed to stories about unexplained sounds and shadows. The Pastor felt that if they had light in the winter that more people would be able to spend time reading, learning, and becoming informed of the outside world. People tended to do things as they had always been done and did not seem interested in making changes or improvements. In the summer when the days were longer, the people were consumed with growing food and caring for their animals.


Posted Oct. 01, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
beckyd

Join Date: 07/31/19

Posts: 92

RE: How does the environment factor into...

To me, the environment (cold and dark) created a cloying atmosphere which contributed to the isolationism of the villagers. There is something to be said about wanting to hunker down and stay warm as opposed to venturing out into the harsh elements.


Posted Oct. 02, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
shannonl

Join Date: 12/04/17

Posts: 50

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The cold weather, short days with long nights and, as a result, few options to get around (transportation) are both isolating and overpowering. They are a presence that overwhelms any character in this book. Neighbors are far away. There are no options to get information or help. People make choices on very limited knowledge and gossip. It is incredible tool for a novelist. I don't use social media and hate having to rely so much on a cell phone but I definitely am thankful I didn't live then!


Posted Oct. 02, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
katherinep

Join Date: 07/16/14

Posts: 374

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The harsh cold snowy winters were probably the most formative factors on the behavior of the people--isolated from the changes in the world they retained the old language, customs and beliefs of the generations before them. It is not uncommon in societies with a lack of scientific knowledge to attribute events to entities other than fellow human beings--gods, mythic creatures--and to devise practices to appease them or control their behaviors such as painting a barn wall with butter. Isolated from the outside world a fear of the unknown and a distrust of anything that seems to contradict the tried and true practices of the past arises.


Posted Oct. 02, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 84

RE: How does the environment factor into...

They lived in a very cold rather isolated village. With isolation comes, I think, a suspicion of others. Without much exposure to people with different perspectives they seem to have continued to hold to older ways and myths.


Posted Oct. 13, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
julib

Join Date: 10/07/20

Posts: 49

RE: How does the environment factor into...

One word: isolation. And a note-to-self that many villagers never traveled farther than surrounding acres to gather wood for fuel or to hunt/fish for nourishment. Very limited exposure to any knowledge of the "outside world" and an immediate suspicion of anything other than the "old ways" that were handed down through generations of families. Survival through seasonal changes marked time for villagers who most likely did not even have the energy or imagination to investigate any possible improved technique or way of life.


Posted Oct. 14, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
triciat50

Join Date: 02/26/22

Posts: 54

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The environment in The Bell in the Lake is incredibly important to the story. The isolation; the cold, the bareness, the forests are infused into every character and plot line in the book. This story could not have taken place in the same way somewhere else. This type of environment shapes the physical and emotional lives of the characters, and the differentness of the characters that come from outside the area are stark, although easily understood in context.


Posted Oct. 28, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rebeccar

Join Date: 03/13/12

Posts: 548

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The cold and dark environment helps to reinforce some fears as well as stories of spirits or magical molds scraped off of bells. However, the physical isolation of that village also traps people into lives that kill their creativity and opportunities for a better life.


Posted Oct. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
marganna

Join Date: 10/14/11

Posts: 153

RE: How does the environment factor into...

The environment - harsh - dark - cold - has kept the villagers isolated from the changing world. They have few visitors & therefore little knowledge of changes coming to their world. The author wrote beautifully about that area of the world making it become almost a character in the story.


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