1. The Actual Geographical Location
In the novel Travel with a Donkey in the Cevennes, the setting of place is explained through the actual geographical location. It is a visible background that
can be seen by descriptive passage in the novel. The geographical location in this novel is described in the form of natural setting like its topography and scenery. It
can be seen from this quotation: Mount Mezene and the peaks beyond St. Julien stood out in trenchant
gloom against a cold glitter in the east; and the intervening field of hills had fallen together into one broad wash of shadow, except here and there
the outline of a wooded sugar-loaf in black, here and there a white irregular patch to represent a cultivated farm, and here and there a blot
where the Loire, the Gazeille, or Laussonne wandered in a gorge p.16.
The topography of Mount Mezene is illustrated in a sharp, dreary plateau that is cold and has less sunlight. The area is still natural with many trees growing and
an irregular patch which indicates a cultivated farm. The setting clearly reflects the natural landscape. The novel uses this kind of setting in most part of the story.
As stated in Roberts and Jacobs that “nature is one of the major forces governing the circumstances of characters who go about facing the conflicts on
which the plots of stories depend 1987: 191.” The condition of topography shows how life in that place is. It means that the topography influences the
society’s life in that kind of place. On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains; rocky footpaths, practicable
at best for donkeys, join it to the outer world of France; and the men and women drink and swear, in their green corner, or look up at the snow-clad
peaks in the winter from the threshold of their homes, in an isolation, you would think, like that of Homer’s Cyclops p.10
The condition of society’s life in the novel can be seen from the condition of the landscape. The landscape influences the way of life and thinking of the society.
24 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The place called Goudet is located among mountains with rocky footpath. The setting brings an uncomfortable of isolated society. This description of
topography and scenery is used in the beginning of the story, the first chapter in the second subchapter entitled “The Green Donkey Driver”. It continues to be
used throughout most of the story. Moor, heathery marsh, tracks of rocks and pines, woods of birch all
jeweled with the autumn yellow, here and there a few naked cottages and bleak fields, these were the characters of the country. Hill and valley
followed valley and hill; the little green and stony cattle-tracks wandered in and out of one another, split into three or four, died away in marshy
hollows, and began again sporadically on hillsides or at the borders of a wood p.26.
The landscape of the road is mountainous. It is a cheerless prospect place. Stevenson describes the natural scenery generally for most places in the novel as
areas of hill and valley, followed by valley and hill again such as in Allier, Goudet, etc. The topography gives the implication of a tedious, uncomfortable
place to live where the society do their activities. The next natural setting of this novel still explains about miserable places.
The road from Cheylard to Luc is described as a bad road with dry land in which there are less wood, trees or low plants. The road seems to be either kept in good
condition or easy place to live in. It is showed in these sentences: It was like the worst of the Scottish Highland, only worse; cold, naked,
and Ignoble, scant of wood, scant of heather, scant of life. A road and some fences broke the unvarying waste, and the line of the road was
marked by upright pillars, to serve in time of snow p.39.
The other form of the scenery’s picture used in the novel is the description about the hue in the river which is not clean. The meadows are described as dry
meadows; the leaves’ color is not green. The weather is hot and dusty. The picture 25
of the scenery in the novel is completely detailed, not only about the flora growing there but also everything surrounding the flora as shown in the statement below.
As far as I have gone, I have never seen a river of so changeful and delicate a hue; crystal was not more clear, the meadows were not by half
so green; and at these hot, dusty, and material garments, and bathe my naked body in the mountain air and water p.77
In Travel with a Donkey in the Cevennes, the description of scenery that contributes to the setting of place is explained until the last part of the novel. “The
phylloxera has ravished the vineyards in this neighborhood and in the early morning, under some chestnuts by the river, I found a party of men working with
a cider-press 118”. The statement shows that the scenery is infected by rats. Most natural sceneries in the novel present unwell situation.
In the novel Travel with a Donkey in the Cevennes, the natural setting is used to organize the story structurally, where a character moves from one
environment to another. It can be said that the natural setting builds the chronology of the story. If one of them is missing, it makes the story not
chronological. The novel consists of five chapters with their own subchapters. The first chapter is entitled Velay, and followed by the next chapter entitled Upper
Gevaudan, Our Lady of the Snows, etc which ends with The Country of the Camisards. All of the places are in the area of France. Each part of the places has
an important role in the story. The manufactured setting is also discussed in this novel. It refers to the
building which is inhabited by the characters in the story. The novel mentions peasant’s cottage around the valley and hill.
26 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Indeed, it was typical of these French highlands. Imagine a cottage of two stories, with a bench before the door; the stable and kitchen in a suite, so
that Modestine and I could hear each other dining; furniture of the plainest, earthern floors, a single bedchamber for travelers, and that without any
convenience but beds p.17.
The physical arrangement of the cottage is described in a poorhouse way. The room is limited; the kitchen and stable are in a suite with simple furniture and
earthern floors. The physical arrangement of the manufactured setting in the novel gives identity to the society that created it. As stated in Roberts and Jacobs that “a
building or a room tells about the people who built it and live in it, and ultimately about the social and political orders that maintain the conditions 1987: 191.” The
physical arrangement of the peasant’s cottage reveals the social condition and emphasizes the financial condition. It shows that the peasant is in poverty. The
poverty of the peasant is shown by the food and drink in the sentence below: The food is sometimes spare; hard fish and omelette have been my portion
more than once; the wine is of the smallest, the brandy abominable to man; and the visit of a fat sow, grouting under the table and rubbing against
your legs, is no impossible accompaniment to dinner p. 17.
The menu is simple food and low qualified alcoholic drink. The animal seeks the food under the table. The circumstances at dinner show that the peasant gets
poverty. The peasant’s inn in Chasserades also shows the poverty. “There were four beds in the little upstairs room and we slept six p.63”.
The novel Travel with a Donkey in the Cevennes uses the properties in the inn to draw the setting, but the properties of the monks in the monastery also give
information about the setting. “Father Michael, a pleasant, fresh-faced, smiling man, perhaps of thirty-five, took me to the pantry, and gave me a glass of liqueur
to stay me until dinner p.46”. In this sentence the property of setting is a glass of 27
liqueur which the monk has. Liqueur is strong and usually sweat alcoholic spirit drunk in small quantities especially after dinner. In fact the liqueur is drunk before
having dinner. It shows that the monks have good financial condition or more prosperous than peasants. The setting is also explained through the properties of
statue and flowers situated in the garden, like in this quotation: The whet administered, I was left alone for a little in the monastery
garden. This is no more than the main court, laid out in sandy paths and beds of parti-coloures dahlias, and with a fountain and a statue of the
Virgin in the centre p.47.
The setting is arranged structurally and in details. The beauty of the setting is created by adding the properties, so that the setting looks more beautiful. It brings
a comfortable atmosphere of living. Moreover, the comfortable life for monks or clergymen can be seen from the condition of the room which is clean and
decorated with accessories. The objects in the room give information about the financial condition of the society.
It was clean and whitewashed, and furnished with strict necessaries, a crucifix, a bust of the late Pope, the imitation in French, a book of
religious meditations…p.47.
In the novel, manufactured setting and physical arrangement do not only show and emphasize the social and financial condition of the peasant, but also show the
social and financial condition of the monks. Thence my good Irishman took me around the workshops, where brothers
bake bread, and make cartwheels, and take photographs; where one superintends a collection of curiosities, and another a gallery of rabbits
p.49.
In the quotation above, the workshop room is described as a useful place for some activities. It is completely a cheerful place that has some functions. The
28 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
arrangement of the room evokes a comfortable feeling. The properties and its arrangement show and emphasize the good financial condition.
The actual geographical location in this novel refers to the place inhabited by the society. The condition of topography, natural and artificial scenery reveals
the social condition of society in France. Most of the description of landscape conveys an unwell condition; it presents a boring miserable place. The
manufactured setting and its physical arrangement of peasants’ cottage or inn show the poverty as having bad financial condition. On the contrary, the actual
geographical location of the monastery evokes comfortable feeling and shows good financial condition.
2. The Occupations and Daily Manner of Living of the Characters
Kategori