The Role of Physical Setting to Convey Isabelle Eberhardt’s Mental and Emotional State Anonymous 12th Grade

Isabelle Eberhardt was known as a prominent symbol of eccentricity and unorthodox behavior, a person with a complex and volatile character that was reflected through her natural surroundings depicted in The Nomad (1987, 2003). In addition to a colorful personality, Isabelle Eberhardt was a woman of great observation and an ability to describe such observations in minute detail throughout her four journals. Isabelle’s eccentric qualities were present even when describing her natural surroundings, incorporating a unique and self-expressive tone while recounting the sand dunes and lush greenery, the pink skies and violent storms that accompanied Isabelle throughout her travels. Although recording Isabelle’s impressions of her natural surroundings served to improve her proficiency as a writer, these descriptions may have also acted as a subconscious outlet for her turmoil of thoughts and emotions. Isabelle Eberhardt incorporates meticulous descriptions of her physical surroundings, in particular her portrayal of the Sahara desert, throughout her four journals, providing insight into her erratic nature and general mental and emotional state at the time of her evocations.

Isabelle Eberhardt uses terms to describe duration and...