A Northern Light Analysis

It may seem like a quiet little rural community, but Eagle Bay has more drama than reality television. There's a ton of tension in all the settings: the Gokey family farm, the rural community at la...

We get our story from Mattie's perspective, and while we get a ton of insight into Mattie's mind, dreams, and emotions (which is good), we have to really pay attention to the text to figure out the...

Young Adult LiteratureWell, this one's pretty easy. The main character, Mattie, is a young adult (though she seems far older than her seventeen years because of the historical context of the novel)...

Mattie is a born writer. We know this from how she describes the natural world and from how she interacts with the world in which she lives. And like many writers, Mattie gravitates toward reflecti...

Okay, bear with us. Lyric literature traditionally refers to a short poem that expresses intensely personal thoughts, emotions, or experiences. There's also a musical lilt to the poetry; in fact, s...

The title—A Northern Light—gives us far too little guidance about the book. The words could mean so many different things. "Light" implies an inspiration, a hope, or a dream; think a light at t...

And if the many sayings of the wiseTeach of submission I will not submitBut with a spirit all unreconciledFlash an unquenched defiance to the stars.ADELAIDE CRAPSEY Saranac Lake, 1913What's up with...

I look around myself wildly, my heart bursting with grief and fear and joy. I am leaving, but I will take this place and its stories with me wherever I go.I reach for his hand and clasp it. He hois...

Pack an extra snack and a large water bottle, Shmoopsters, because you're in for a somewhat lengthy hike. What makes A Northern Light a bit more difficult than the average young adult novel is its...

Beginning with the End in MindWait a second… we're starting with the climax in this one? Yup, Shmoopsters, indeed we are. This book opens with arguably the most important event of the entire ta...

Ever wanted to change the past? Jennifer Donnelly did, and that's one of the sparks that ignited the story behind A Northern Light. (Source.) There really was a Grace Brown and a Chester Gillette,...

There is some sexual language and behavior in A Northern Light, but it's not super explicit. Sex in the novel is seriously located in the early twentieth century, with all the twentieth century nor...

Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language (1.8) Louisa May Alcott (22.glean.79; 23.dehiscence.15; 33.gravid.12)Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (23.dehiscence.15)Jane Austen (2...