Setting

Physical setting

The short story “The Splinter” by Ron Carlson is set in contemporary times, as indicated by Damon’s software company (l. 6), in the Zion National Park in the USA (l. 1).

At the beginning of the story, the writer maps out the drive through the park, giving exact details about the characters’ journey (ll. 1-3). The description of the natural landscape continues with vivid details about the road presented from the narrator’s perspective, setting the mood: “The road ahead became a narrow rock shelf along the cliff side and we could see the jeep rocking along the one-lane track” (ll. 15-16). This creates a sense of tension until the characters reach their destination, a valley:

We dropped into a small valley and it narrowed to a grove of big cottonwoods […] We were camping at the edge of the magnificent trees on a sandy shelf overlooking some tributary of the Virgin River as it cut through the ...