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How does the setting of Woodsong contribute to the story's conflict?
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The setting of Woodsong significantly contributes to the story's conflict by presenting the harsh and unforgiving Alaskan wilderness as a formidable challenge for Gary Paulsen. This environment, characterized by the bleakness of the woods and the treacherous Iditarod Trail, creates a backdrop where the raw realities of nature test Paulsen's survival skills. His experiences with the wilderness highlight the conflict between human endurance and the formidable forces of nature.
Woodsong is a book of memoirs written by Gary Paulsen and published in 1990. The memoirs are probably set between 1979 and 1983. The first half of the book tells of Paulsen’s time running sled dogs in Minnesota. The second half of the book details his time taking part in the thousand-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska.
The memoirs are primarily set in the woods and the Alaskan wilderness. Paulsen has admitted that he did not realize how frightening the woods could truly be until he was forty years old. Taking part in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race saw him spend seventeen days traveling across the harsh Alaskan wilderness. During this time, he passed The Burn, The Yukon River, and the Bering Sea. The Alaskan wilderness is a bleak and unwelcoming place, and the conflict of the book involves the raw realities of nature in this setting and Paulsen’s survival.
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