Context:

In Serena, Ron Rash uses the historic founding of the Smokey Mountain National park as backdrop of his story. He intertwines Appalachian heritage of the mountains with the national issue of the 1929 crash of the stock market. Rash uses the Horace Kephart (the first cultural historian of Appalachia) as a character in the novel as a protector of the mountains.

Prompt:

Use at least two secondary sources as well as the novel to compare and contrast how Rash weaves historical facts in the novel to set up the conflict between business and economy and nature. Discuss the issue of jobs vs. environment as it is illustrated in the novel and how this issue continues in Appalachia today. Compare and contrast how the characters in the novel both sustain and destroy the nature around them. The essay needs to be 800-1200 words.