The people and their land: Only me can tell
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever
want to own.” [ CITATION And16 \l 1033 ] While many people today think they are naturalists
and care for the land they walk on, they will have no connection like those of the farmers and
families who lived on that land prior to it being developed. In “A Land Remembered”, some
uneducated minds may believe that the land wasn’t really a.ected until the end. Even though
some may believe the people used the land the same way through the entire novel, though out
the story it is a proven fact that the people used it di.erently. From using it as a means of life
and food, to just doing what they know/have come custom to, to manipulating the land to
become profit producing. Over time, greed and sel3shness conquers family tradition and the
basics of life. Also, the people in the novel are told to be using the land di.erently due to the
time period, because of what is happening externally (actual historical events.)
“A Land Remembered” was developed with a 3ctional family based in a non3ctional,
somewhat historically accurate time period. Patrick D. Smith was very creative in character and
plot development. He was smart enough to create/develop some of the characters, unlike the
MacIvey family and their help, to use the land the same way through the entire novel; they
would farm it, and nothing else. These people/families were believed to be stuck in their ways,
doing what they know, and not wanting to expand their horizons or learn from others. Patrick D.
Smith also wrote in a few active characters that we see/hear of o?en in the novel, like the shop
owners in the small towns the MacIvey family travel through. These owners were also the local
real estate agents and the local pawn store broker for the entire town. All of these characters
stuck to what they grew up learning, running their shop, writing up land deeds, and being a 3rd
party for estate sales (pawn sales). These were the people who did not see what was coming in
the very near future, and did not prepare for the real estate/land boom.[ CITATION Wor16 \l
1033 ]
Even though some people were known to use the land the same way through the entire
novel, others were known for the complete opposite; using the land and changing/developing it
as time went on. At first, when se@lers/farmers/the MacIvey family were first developed into
