The excerpt is from Marilynne Robinson's novel Gilead (published in 2004). In this passage, a Christian minister
sets out with his son to find the grave of his father, who
was also a minister. Narrated by the young son, this
scene takes place in Kansas in 1892 during a drought.
Read the passage carefully. Write a paragraph in which
you make a defensible claim regarding how Robinson
uses literary elements and techniques to convey the
significance of the setting for the son and his father. In
your paragraph, you should incorporate at least one piece
of evidence from the text to support your claim.