Editor's Choice
Where is "David Swan" set: (A) in a big city, (B) on a farm, or (C) along a well-traveled road?
Quick answer:
"David Swan" is set along a well-traveled road, making option C the correct answer. The protagonist, David, stops to rest in a shaded area beside the road on his journey to Boston. While he sleeps, various people pass by, including a couple who contemplate adopting him, a young woman who admires him, and two men with malicious intent. David remains oblivious to these encounters when he awakens.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "David Swan" is set along a well-travelled road, or "Answer C." While traveling by foot to Boston to go work at the counter of his uncle's grocery store, David stops at a recess in the midst of a "little tuft of maples." Away from the harsh rays of the summer sun and the dust of the road, David falls into a deep sleep. While he naps, several other people pass by him: a gentleman and lady in a carriage who comment that he is sleeping the slumber of a young and trouble-free mind and who wish to make him their son, a pretty girl who shoos a bee away from him with her handkerchief and admires his good looks, and two bad men who nearly murder him. David eventually wakes, unaware at all the opportunities (both good and bad) that had passed him while he slept.
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