...Land of the Lost Stewart O’Nan Everybody has tried to be lost, either in a physical place or in their own life and mind. This theme is the short story ‘’ Land of the Lost’’ about. Here experiences the reader the development of a woman, who gets more and more obsessed with a case about a missing girl. The short story never explains to the reader, if the woman finds the girl, and why she is so obsessed, which I will try to find out. I will analyse the main character, her obsession, the title and therefor will I analyse the ending of the story with the information, I discover. The events of the short story are being told as a 3rd limited person narrator, because we only see the events from the main character’s point of view, and how she feels. We see everything through her eyes. The short story is written chronologically and has no flashbacks or flash-forwards. So the reader doesn’t know, how the life of the main character has been in the past, except that she has two boys and is divorced. This makes the short story very mysterious, because the reader doesn’t see her thoughts very often and only see it from her perspective. Therefor the author holds some information back e.g. he doesn’t tell us, if she really finds the body, and why she is so obsessed, which I will try to find out. I can therefor conclude that the short story is written in 3rd limited person, chronologically and the author is holding back some information. The author never tells the reader, what the main...
Words: 1055 - Pages: 5
...Land of the lost The short story “Land of the lost” by Stewart O’nan from 2009, is about a woman who becomes obsessed with a murder case she hears about in the news. She starts following the case about the murdered girl, whose body the murderer, James Wade, claims to have buried west of Kingsville. Soon she’s changing her work schedule so she can search for the girls’ body. She’s very naive, and even calls the FBI when she’s convinced she’s found the girl. She didn’t, and even though her sons ask her to stop, she keeps on searching long after that. Her only agenda is that she wants to help the family find the girl – or is it? We don’t know the name of the main character. She is a woman, living alone and working as a cashier at a supermarket, a job that doesn’t have a very high status. Her sons left shortly after her divorce, and she is left alone with her dog Ollie, a German shepherd. She has no social relations in her life. She feels that she isn’t really needed by anyone – until she discovers the case. So when she’s searching for the body, she is really searching for at purpose in life. “She could admit that at least part of the reason she was searching for a stranger’s daughter was that nobody else needed her. Just Ollie.” Her life is meaningless and she’s trying to fill the hole with the case. The woman is definitely not a quitter, long after everybody has stopped thinking about the case, and put it behind them, she continues. The odd thing is how her view on the case...
Words: 855 - Pages: 4
...Land of the Lost The story is written by Stewart O’Nan, and is about a woman who in her search for a little girl’s body refuses to realize that her life is without purpose. The main character’s name is never revealed. She has been divorced for many years, and is currently living by herself and her dog Ollie. Towards the beginning of the story, the reader gets the impression that she is an ordinary middle-aged woman who’s living a normal life. However, this changes as the main character learns about the case of a missing girl. the main character quickly has both feet in and is more interested in the case than anything else, “At night when she couldn’t sleep she sat up in her bed and went over the transcripts and the mother’s map, convincing herself it was possible.” (P.8, l. 8-9). At this point, the main character is becoming obsessed with the case. Throughout the story, the main character’s obsession with the case steadily increases. She digs around campsites hoping to find the girl, documents everything she does and she even rearranged her shifts, working at nights so she could take advantage of the daylight. (P. 8, l. 26-27) At one point, the main character realizes why she is actually searching for the girl: “She could admit that at least part of the reason she was searching for a stranger’s daughter was that no one else needed her. Just Ollie.” (P. 9, l. 61-62). Nevertheless, this doesn’t make her stop searching. She continues and enrolls Ollie in an online...
Words: 775 - Pages: 4
...Land of the Lost Almost all mothers have a ‘protect gene’ for their children. When they hear about a murder, they start thinking ‘what if it was my child?’ This thought can make them want to be a hero and investigate the murder on their own. This is exactly what happens to our main character in this short story Land of the Lost by Stewart O’Nan. We do not know the name of our main character and that indicates how generalized she is. The short story is told by a third person narrator - and it is seen from the main character’s point of view: “Thank God, she thought. What would Brian say now?” (p. 11, ll.138) She is following a murder case very carefully. Her and her husband have broken up and her to boys are out of the house. She only has the German shepherd Ollie at home - so there is nobody to prevent or disturb when she is working with the case. She needs content in her life and something to do. The murder case takes all her attention - it gives her problems at her job, because she tells the customers about the case: “so much so that her manager had to ask her to stop.” (p. 8, ll. 4-5) The murder, James Wade, tells where the girl is buried - west of Kingsville - and the main character begins keeping a file. The main character of the short story keeps it all in secret - she does not tell anybody about it: “The first time was the hardest because she felt foolish.” (p. 8, ll. 11-12) she knows, that what she makes is not ‘normal’ for a woman like her. That is why she...
Words: 1057 - Pages: 5
...Land of the lost by Steward O’ Nan B Steward O’ Nan has written the short story “Land of the lost” with a third-person limited narrator. The story is written in a third-person limited narrator because it can make the reader feel closer to the main character because only one persons’ thought and feelings are shared, thus allowing the chance to build a bund between the reader and the character. An example from the text where it can been seen that it is a third-person limited narrator stands on page 8 l. 11-12; “She didn’t tell anyone what she was doing- she wasn’t stupid. The first time was the hardest because she felt foolish.” In those lines, we are able to know how the main character is feeling and what she is thinking. Through the whole story we follow her closely. It has that effect on the reader that a jump into the character’s head shows her thought process but leave some distance between what is happening on the outside and what the main character is thinking. That distance is very important for the reader. The story is about a single character that is middle-aged and divorced. She works as a cashier and lives alone with her dog, named Ollie. The main character is a middle-aged woman living alone with her dog Ollie, because her grown boys have just moved out. She is a cashier at a BI-LO in Perry. At work, she isn’t alone, she has co-workers to talk with but at home, she has nobody beside her dog. One day she gets interested in a local case where a girl has been murdered...
Words: 857 - Pages: 4
...Land of the lost - Analysis Land of the lost is written in 2009 by Stewart O’Nan. The story takes place in Perry and Kingsville - US. The themes in this story are: Loneliness, purpose of life, being useless. These themes are reflected in the entire story -even the title “land of the Lost” I will first start with at Characterization of the narrator and her life: She is a cashier at the local supermarket. She lives in her own world, both of her sons have moved out of the house, and her marriage is long gone – which leaves her dog Ollie, a German shepherd, as her only company. She is alone in the world. The narrator tells that when she started looking for the girl it was because she wanted to help the family. Because of her lonely life she gets obsessed with this case. The woman is trying to find a kidnapped and killed girl, who has been missing for about 2 years. First she followed the case in the newspaper and on TV, but when she finds out that the body is buried west of Kingsville, she looks for the body there. This women needs a purpose of life “She could admit that a part of the reason she was looking for a stranger’s daughter was that no one else needed her, just Ollie” l 61-62 and after a while she mostly searched because she wanted to be honored as a hero – Then everyone would know she wasn’t crazy, l. 141-142”. After a while of searching and a call for the police without finding any body, the women in the story doesn’t do it to help the family anymore, she does...
Words: 768 - Pages: 4
...Land of the Lost * Essay Land of the Lost is a short story written by Stewart O’Nan. The story is about a woman who works as a cashier at the BI-LO (supermarket). She has to sons (unknown age) who have moved out, and she is divorced. She’s living in a town called Perry, which is a small city in Hempstead County in the USA. Her only flatmate is the shepherd called Ollie. A murder has been committed by James Wade (JW) in the city. James Wade, says in the media that the missing child is buried west of Kingsville. Our main character believes, that it is her mission to bring back the body of the missing child to the mother. She doesn’t want the respect, reputation or recognition, just that the child is brought back to her mother. She follows the case on the TV and supports the relatives of the girl on the Internet. She becomes so obsessed with the case, that her boss of the BI-LO asks her to stop because she disrupts the other employees and customers. She finds out that JW has buried the body of the missing child, west of Kingsville and goes out every day to find her. She digs everywhere and trains her dog to ferret out the missing girl, but the girl doesn’t’ occur. One cold evening she went out digging as usually. She thought she was on the track of something but got stressed because she had to go home for work. Therefore she decides to call the FBI. But it’s a flop; there is no corpse to find. The police seem to understand the situation and one of the officers tells her:...
Words: 951 - Pages: 4
...”Land of the lost ” Stewart O’Nan In this essay, I am going to analyse Stewart O’Nans short story ”Land of the lost”. The story is about a lonely woman, whose marriage had long since broken up and her 2 sons have moved out of the house. She has no purpose in life anymore. Therefore she keeps up with a murder case in Kingsville. The murder case is about a young girl who is killed. The lonely woman wants to find the girl. So she follows the case. Firstly through tv and newspapers, but when she finds out that the body is in Kingsville, she goes out to find it there. She uses all her time on this case, and the people around her thinks she has gone crazy. One bright afternoon outside Fairport Harbor, behind a Ryder truck center she finds the buried girl. The story is in 3rd person narrator. This gives a developing character and a better description of the lonely woman. It creates the woman's universe. Which also gives the impression of the search for the meaning of life. This gives a relation to the reader because I believe that everybody in some point of their lives, have thought about the famous thought. ”The meaning of life.” The story also radiates the thirst for success. Success is finding the body and prove everybody wrong. I think that this woman has set a goal. The goal to find the girl and she will not give up before she finds her. The main character is the lonely woman. Throughout the story, we don't get her name or the description of how she looks. The...
Words: 668 - Pages: 3
...Summary Land of the Lost by Stewart O'Nan is a story about a woman who, left alone with her dog, decides to search for the body of a murdered girl she read about in the newspaper. Her grown children think she's losing her marbles, but everyday she sets out to find the missing girl. What is the meaning of life? This is an existential question that has been asked again and again throughout time and will probably never get one true answer. The only answer that can be given might be that you have to come up with your own answer. In the short story “Land of the Lost” the main character tries to find her own meaning of life by taking up a new occupation, but people just look down on what she is doing. We often judge other people, but when are we really in the position to rightfully do so? In Stewart O’Nans short story “Land of the Lost”, the main character is constantly judged by her surroundings, but maybe they just do not understand her. She has a meaningless job, lives alone with her dog and has nothing to do in her spare time. When she decides to take action and actually do something, she is, however, judged unrightful-ly crazy. Hovedpersonen i novellen arbejder som kassedame i et supermarked, der hedder BI-LO. Hendes jobposition er derfor ikke særlig høj statusplaceret , og hendes chef har endda givet hende en reprimande, fordi han synes, hun taler for meget om den mordsag, hun er så optaget af. Det betyder, at hun er i en position, hvor hun er så underdanig i sin stilling...
Words: 1241 - Pages: 5
...There are often some huge problems by judging other people way to handle difficult times. In the short story “Land of the lost” by Stewart O´Nans we land in the middle of the main characters life, which is basically build up by the judgment of her surroundings. Like millions of people her life has reach a part where it has taken a descending track. She has lost almost everything of value. She lives alone with a dog and has a pointless job without any meaning to her at all. But who has not tried that? People are so often trying to evaluate how the man next door lives his life and then compare it with their own. But who gives us the right to be judgmental about how people live their lives and what they believe in? The main character works as cashier at a market called BI-LO in Perry. From the start we get the picture of a woman with a very low social status. Because of her ruined marriage and the separation with her two sons she is tied up by a closed case about a murder. Her low status at work causes correction of her behavior at work because of her ongoing discussion about the murder with the co-workers and customers. “…Discussing it with her co-workers and customers – so much so that her manager had to ask her to stop” (p. 8. ll. 4-5). Her low status at the job does also have an effect on her private live because she feels very surplus in the world. The main character see herself as something dispensable, and her sole companion is her one and only dog Ollie. With Ollie as...
Words: 1065 - Pages: 5
...O'Nan Land of the Lost BI-LOI in Perry whose marriage had long since broken up. Soon after that her two boys moved out of the house, leaving Ollie, her German shepherdr. as her sole companion. From the beginning she followed the case in the paper and on T\-. absorbing it like a mystery, discussing it with her co-workers and customers - so much so s that her manager had to ask her to stop. Early on she visited the Web site and left messages of support in the guest book, from one mother to another, but after James Wade confessed that he'd buried the girl somewhere west of Kingsville, she began keeping a file. At night when she couldn't sleep she sat up in bed and went over the transcripts and the mother's map, convincing herself it was possible. She couldn't believe a feeling so She was a cashier at a ro strong could be mistaken. She didn't tell anyone what she was doing she wasn't stupid. The first time was the hardest because she felt foolish. In the privacy of her garage, while Ollie looked on, she stocked the trunk of her car with a shovel, a spade, a dry-cell flashlight and a pair of work gloves. She opened the door and he leaped into the backseat, capering from window to rs window, frantic just to be going somewhere' 'A1l right, calm down," she said. "It's not playtime." Searching on foot took longer than she thought. They came across nothing more sinister than a rotting seagull, but she wasn't disappointed. Bushwhacking3 through the overgrown no-man's-land behind the...
Words: 1953 - Pages: 8
...“Land of the Lost” By Stewart O’Nan The short story: “Land of the Lost” is written by Stewart O’Nan and is about a lonely woman whouses every spare minute she has got on finding a dead girl’s body.The main character in the text is a woman who works as a cashier at a supermarket. She livesalone because she is divorced and because her two sons moved out. Her German shepherd Ollie isher sole companion. Ollie is the only one who is really interested in her and he follows hereverywhere, no matter what.We do not hear anything about what she is doing in her spare time, not before we learn thatshe one day hears about a case with a girl who has disappeared. She follows the case closely anddiscusses it with everyone in her surroundings. She becomes extremely obsessed in following thecase, and after hearing a man named James Wade confessing that he had buried the girl, shebecomes obsessed with the thought of her finding the missing body.The narrator is telling the story in third person, whose view on the story is not shown to us,which makes us get our own opinion about the main character. It is an omniscient narrator, which isseen by the fact that the narrator does not only know about the main characters actions, but alsoabout her thoughts and emotions. We learn that the narrator knows about her thoughts and emotionson page 1 line 11: “She didn’t tell anyone what she was doing - she wasn’t stupid. The first timewas the hardest because she felt foolish.” We get an impression of how she...
Words: 682 - Pages: 3
...B) “Land of the Lost” essay. The text “Land of the Lost” is written in 2009 by Stewart O’Nan and is about a woman, whose marriage had long since broken up. Her sons have moved out, leaving her alone with Ollie her German shepherd. She becomes fixated on the case of a girl who had been murdered and buried. She decides to find the body and by two and a half year difficulties it’s shown how she reaches her goal. The point of view in this story tells us how generalized the main character is. Even though we are dealing with a third person narrator, the story is told like it was seen from the main character’s point of view: “Thank God, she thought. What would Brian say now?” (p. 4, l. 138). We see that the narrator speaks for the main character. The reason why the narrator does that is that the narrator wants us to know, that the main character could as well be the narrator as it could be us readers. We are never told what the name of the main character is, and this also indicates this generalized picture of the main character. The main character’s view on the case is connected with her personality, which develops through course. The main character is very naive when it comes to the case: “(...) discussing it with her co-workers- so much that her manager had to ask her stop.” (p. 1, l. 4-5). She can’t stop talking about this little girl, and she wants to know and investigate more. It shows us, how lonely she has become; her children and husband have left her alone...
Words: 830 - Pages: 4
...Native American lost their land Introduction: Native American also know as American Indians, Indigenous American or simply Indians see Terminology differences are people who belong to one of the over 500 districts Native American tribes that survive intact today as partially sovereign nations within the country’s modern boundaries. These tribes and bands are descended from the pre Colombian indigenous population of North American. The 15 century, the migration of Europeans to the America. Reason 1: President Andrew Jackson offered similar rhetoric in his first inaugural address in 1829, when he emphasized his desire “ to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a juts and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate...
Words: 381 - Pages: 2
...Land of the lost This paper is an analysis and interpretation of Stewart O’ Nan’s “Land of the Lost”. A woman’s almost obsessive investigation of a young woman’s death is the center of this short story, where Stewart O’ Nan’s portrayal of the main character makes her more fascinating to the reader than the missing girl. The name of the main character is unknown to us, but despite the anonymity we are able to observe her feelings and behavior through a third person narrator. The point of view lies with her and that makes the narration personal and feels as if she told the story herself, but at the same time it gives the reader an opportunity to craft its own opinion about her. The death of a child unknown to you wouldn’t normally affect you as much as it does the main character. All she can think and talk about is this certain case and it becomes an immense part of her as she puts her normal life as well as her health under pressure to search for the dead girl. Her motives are to be found in her personal life. She works as a cashier, is divorced and lives alone with her German shepherd Ollie. I dare say that her goals in life aren’t achieved at this point and she has a gap in her life she needs to fulfill. All humans have a need to be recognized by others and by dedicating her time to the family of the young girl she finally has a purpose and meaning in her life. She is missing children to take care of, a husband to love, friends to talk to and a job to appreciate. All...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
