Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Canyons (Mood (I believe the mood of the novel is determination. I feel…
Canyons
Mood
I believe the mood of the novel is determination. I feel this way because all throughout the novel the boys face challenges that they learn to over come with determination.
Coyote Runs came across his challenge while he was fighting in the raid. During the raid he was shot and killed by soldiers. But until he took his last breath he still had a fire of determination in him to get to the safe place.
Brennan also showed extreme determination. While he was trying to return Coyote's skull. He was running away from the rescue team, and would not stop. Brennan ran 60 miles even with a broken ankle. Brennan also had that fire of determination burning in him.
Gary Paulsen
-
Gary Paulsen has won three Newbery honor awards. He spends most of his time in his home in Alaska and his ranch in New mexico.
Novel Backround
The novel canyons had two main characters. Coyote Runs and Brennan Cole. Coyote Runs is a teenager that belongs
to the Apache tribe. Coyote Runs is yearning to show his worth as a man by participating in his first raid. While fighting during the raid he is captured and shot and killed by American soldiers.
Brennan Cole is another teenage boy from the same region as Coyote Runs. Brennan is not very close to his family, but when he finds Coyote Run's bullet pierced skull more that 100 years after he died Brennan feels an instant connection. Brennan knows in order to bring about peace between himself and Coyote Runs he needs to return the skull to its rightful place.
Setting
The novel takes place in Elpaso Texas near the boarder crossing into Mexico. Brennan finds Coyote Run's skull in Dog Canyon. One of the many hot and dry deserts found in southwestern Texas.
The climate where Brennan and Coyote Runs live is hot and parched almost all year long.Thats because they live in the Sacramento mountain area.
Characterization
A character trait that describe Coyote Runs is naive. He is naive because he does not know much about manhood and raids. And because this was his first time going on a raid he did not know what to expect. And because of his lack of prior experience and his innocence he didn't make it out alive.
Coyote Runs is also tenacious. He is tenacious because even though he physically died his spirit wouldn't rest. He waited more than 100 years for the right person to come along and return his skull. Coyote Runs could not get to his "medicine place"(safe haven) on his own but that still did not discourage him. Coyote still managed to find a way to get there, and he would not give up.
Conflict
The journey to get Coyote's medicine place is tough. Brennan runs away from home to get to the canyon. A rescue team chases after him. Brennan also brakes his ankle. He runs 60 miles to get to Coyote's safe place Brennan eventually makes it. The significance of the conflict is to bring awareness about how Brennan and Coyote Runs both enter manhood.
The main conflict in the book arises when Brennan finds Coyote's skull while camping in Dog Canyon. Brennan brings the skull home and is "haunted" by the skull. Brennan is confronted by Coyote Run's spirit. Brennan ultimately realizes in order to bring peace between himself and Coyote's spirit he has to return the skull to Coyote's "medicine place" or safe place.
Theme
The theme of this book is determination will lead you to manhood. I think that's the theme because both boys showed determination and in the end that lead them to manhood.
When Coyote was fighting in the raid he did not give up, and tried to get to the safe place until he couldn't any more. even after Coyote died he still found a way to get to his safe haven.
And Brennan still kept running to return Coyote Run's skull even though all odds were against him. Both boys displayed determination and courage and while doing that they showed traits of real men.
-