Call It Courage | Setting

Call It Courage Setting

The story is set in ancient times before European traders and missionaries arrived in Polynesia, a group of widely scattered islands in that part of the Pacific Ocean known as the South Seas.

In this region, there are typically two kinds of islands—low-lying, coral atolls, and high, mountainous volcanic islands.

A coral atoll is built up over centuries by the skeletons of the coral polyp and rises only a few feet above sea level. It seldom consists of more than a few square miles of land, planted with coconut groves and surrounding a peaceful, inner lagoon. Hikueru, Mafatu's home island, is just such an atoll. His simple village is set against a backdrop of windswept palms amid the spaciousness of the open sea. The volcanic islands of Polynesia are rugged and mountainous, with lush valleys and coastal plans. In this story, Sperry juxtaposes these two types...
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