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The Cone Gatherers
Introduction
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‘The Cone-Gatherers’ by Robin Jenkins is set in
Scotland during World War II. It is set on the estate
of the Runcie-Campbell’s, a wealthy Scottish family.
The action takes place over a few days in Autumn in
the forest on the estate. The trees are to be cut down
to provide wood for the war effort.
The cones from the trees are to be collected before
the forest is destroyed so that the trees can be
replaced.
Brothers Calum and Neil have been sent to do this
hard, demanding work.
Macrocosm – The Big Picture
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1939 – 1945 World War 2
Britain is at war with the evil dictator,
Adolf Hitler
There are rumours of millions of people
(especially Jews, gypsies and the disabled)
dieing in concentration camps
(The Holocaust)
Microcosm – the small picture
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The story is set in Ardmore, a privately
owned estate (The Runcie-Campbells) in
North West of Scotland.
In this small place battles will also take place
– class, good and evil, and psychological
(internal conflict).
Maps
Ardmore
Publication 1955
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The book was published shortly after World
War 2 and Jenkins sought to address in story
form two pressing questions of the time:
What kind of evil was there in human beings
which had got out of control and had led to
WW2 and its aftermath?
Where, if anywhere, was there hope for the
future?
Religious Imagery
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It is arguable that TCG is an allegory – that
is a story with a second level of meaning.
To understand that second level of meaning
we have to understand some Christian
ideas from the Bible.
Robin Jenkins was a committed Christian
and his audience (when his book was
published in 1955) would have known a lot
of Christian ideas not so well known today.
Christian Imagery
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In the beginning Man and God lived in
perfect harmony in the Garden of Eden.
Hint – look out for a perfect setting in ‘The Cone Gatherers’
In this Garden there was an evil
presence (a snake, Satan, Devil)
Hint – look out for an evil character in ‘The Cone Gatherers’
The snake persuaded man to disobey God and sin
(the capacity to do evil) entered our perfect world.
Therefore man deserved to die.
Hint – look out for an evil character persuading others to do
things which will cause trouble in ‘The Cone Gatherers’.
God’s problem was how do I fix this?
God
Man
Hint - look out for ‘broken’ relationships in ‘The Cone Gatherers’
God sent his own son (Jesus) to fix it
(a 100% innocent person).
Hint – look out for an ‘innocent’ character in ‘The Cone Gatherers’.
St Francis of Assisi
“Chaffinches fluttered
around him”
Jesus died on the cross (crucifixion) for our sins
bringing back peace between man and God.
Hint – look out for a horrendous bloody death in ‘The Cone
Gatherers’.