Essay Questions

Why was the colony experiencing disease and malnutrition?

Although the colony at the center of The Vaster Wilds is never named, it is based on the real-life Jamestown colony, which experienced a severe outbreak of disease and malnutrition during the winter of 1609-1610. At the start of the winter, nearly 500 people lived in Jamestown. When the colonists landed, they aimed to grow all of their own food and subsist on trade with local Indian tribes and resupply from England. However, they quickly discovered that the water they intended to drink was only potable for half of the year because it contained too much seawater. Not only that, the ship from England, which had aimed to resupply the colonists, arrived months late and without the supplies the colonists desperately needed. Trade also broke down with the Indians, causing the colonists to starve. In an effort to find food, they also ventured out and contracted novel diseases, further adding to their suffering and causing them to turn to cannibalism, which is how many of the 61 remaining survivors made it.

Why does the girl decide to leave her colony?

The girl, who is the main character of the novel, decides to leave the colony for a number of reasons. First, because she is an orphan and has been passed around from family to family, she has been ostracized and shunned for much of her life. Because of this, she becomes disillusioned with herself and the people that live around her. For much of her life, they called her awful, disparaging names—names that hurt her psyche tremendously. After food grows increasingly scarce in the colony, creating rising tensions, disease, and the potential for violence, the girl becomes increasingly scared of her surroundings and begins hatching a plot to escape. She can't live in a colony without food and with people who are sick and hate her. She wants to forge her own path.