The cone gatherers is  a story written by Robin Jenkins, published in 1955.

THE TITLE

Reading the title the reader gets a piece of information about who may be the characters of the story. They story may be about  two or more persons that gather cones.

The title is relevant because since from the first chapter the reader understands that his idea was probably right.

SETTING

The story is set in wartime, during the 2nd World War in a forest. The setting is very important because it gives a piece of information about the situation: the two cone gatherers have to gather cones because forests are going to be cut down and the cones are needed to rebuild forests. The novel takes place in a small setting (the estate of the Runcie- Campbells, a wealthy Scottish family) but throughout the novel we are aware of the conflict between good and evil.

TOPICS

The novel covers many themes: the most important one is the perpetual conflict between good and evil.

Evil is a "presence like air, infecting everyone"; it is mainly connected to the character of the gamekeeper, Duror.

Also good exists, there are characters that represents it, like Calum and Roderik.

The theme of the war is alway present in the background and it is the cause of the situation of the novel.

An other topic is class conflict: for example Lady Runcie- Campbells believes in the system of privilege and tries to make sure that her Christianity justifies it.

Also the difference between the social classes emerges, since from the start of the story the reader is aware of the growing sense of bitterness of one of the two protagonist because of the treatment they receive at the estate.

Last but not least, The Cone Gatheres show many elements connected to Christian religion: the forest may be the Garden Of Heaven, Calum may be compared to Jesus Christ and Duror is the evil.

LANGUAGE

The writer uses a language that is simple to understand but that is also very meaningful.

He uses a lot of similies to create images into the reader's mind that better explain the meaning of his words.

NARRATOR

The reader reads the story from the point of view of the two cone gatheres, so he knows only what they know.