The Tundra

The tundra is the place where the narrator goes out to be alone. This is a dangerous landscape where she almost dies of hypothermia several times. It is also a place of spiritual awakening, as she encounters the Northern Lights out on the tundra and gives birth to her children in an igloo on the tundra. This setting acts as an indicator for the status of the natural environment at large, as the narrator comments on the unseasonal ice cracking or the unusual warmth, which are both ultimately dangerous as they can result in drowning.

The House

The narrator’s house is where she spends some of her time, although she frequently hides in her room to avoid her parents’ drinking parties. This house is both a shelter from and a source of danger. In the end, she too brings danger into the house in the form...