Setting Post

Eddy Harris does a very good job developing the setting into a character in Mississippi Solo.  "The Mississippi.  Mighty, muddy, dangerous, rebellious, and yet a strong, fathering kind of river.  The river captured my imagination when I was young and has never let it go"(1).  Eddy is pretty much describing the river as anyone does, then he uses the words "rebellious" and "fathering" in his description.  The other words he uses, mighty, muddy, dangerous, and strong, can also be used to describe a person.  Throwing the words rebellious and fathering in there make the river sound like a person/character in the book.  In fact, he talks about the river as a character throughout the book.  "I have been with this river a long long time.  I knew his mother.  I watched him being born.  I don't want to see him die.  I watched him meandering playfully in youth and running joyfully.  I don't want o see him wandering lost in the delta, searching for his way among the bayous weak and aimless like an old man"(242).  Eddy is pretty much saying that he watched the Mississippi form from Lake Itasca (Mississippi's mother) and grow into the huge mile wide river that it is now.  Instead of just saying that, he threw some personification in there to turn a lifeless river into a constantly developing character.