What Is The Theme Of Setting In Deadline By Terry Trueman

The setting of Idaho can be a powerful tool for conveying important themes and ideas. In Chris Crutcher’s novel, Deadline, Ben Wolf has been informed his senior year will be his last. He is terminally ill, and naturally smaller than everyone else. Instead of letting this get to him, he decides this year will be different. Ben goes out for football and makes life difficult for his social studies teacher. He works to solve the mysteries hidden in his town and changes for the better. The Kid Who Killed Cole Hardt by Terry Trueman follows a kid named Ryan Turane, a 17-year old who is offered to chauffeur his idol Cole Hardt. He believes by doing this Cole will teach him to reach fame and success. Everything goes well until it doesn't and they find

Ryan uses his resourcefulness and ingenuity to find his way out. With both these books taking place in Idaho, they merely have similarities between them. In both of these stories, the authors use a small town setting, they also use setting to provide more vivid imagery to the stories, and use setting to contribute to the main message of morality in both stories. By using setting differently throughout their stories, both authors are able to create clear and vivid imagery of the setting clearly and create a strong connection to the setting.
The setting of a small town is introduced to the reader early and vivid. Ben states that everything necessary is close to town while many other things can be distant from town. Dallas, Ben’s girlfriend shows us this with her brother. “Joe Henry doesn't go to the dentist without getting to stay overnight in a fancy hotel”(Crutcher 35). Similarly, Ben states, “The football field is three miles out of town so we dress in the locker room and ride the bus”( Crutcher 65). This furthermore supports the point that this town is small and compact. Ben shows us this within his school. The turf is miles away and

Since Ben lives in a small town of Idaho, the author uses a feeling of isolation that is similar to Ben’s opinion on his illness. He feels he is trapped inside of his illness and doesn't want to end his life like this. He is forced to look at himself and his town and enjoy its natural beauty while he can and confront the problems within it. “ I glide along main street, up the frozen dirt road toward the reservoir, over the mile long earthen dam and into the hills, jogging slowly”( Crutcher 300). Here, Crutcher uses the overall theme of morality to show the beauty and fragility of life. Ben recognizes the natural beauty his state has on him and realizes the fragility of life. This quote reminds Ben that his hometown of Trout, Idaho is beautiful and he should enjoy it as long as he can. Ben is faced with a challenge when his social studies teacher isn’t allowing him to do his school project on Malcolm X. Ben wants to make a petition and get the citizens of Trout to sign towards making the main street named after Malcom X. One of his fellow teammates and students intervenes and says, “ ‘Jesus, wolf. You see any black dudes in this school’ ”( Crutcher 135). This quote emphasizes the theme of racism that Ben explores during his last year. The setting of the small predominantly white town is used to create that theme of discrimination that is shown. Ben illuminates