The Setting

The first book of Artemis Fowl is set in Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam. It is where Artemis first discovers anything about the fairy race. The said city is relatively a new city. Before being called in its present name today, the city is popularly known as Saigon, and was the capital of South Vietnam. The name “Ho Chi Minh” was chosen by the Vietnamese, in honor of the leader of the revolution that led to their independence against the United States. Ho Chi Minh literally means “Bringer of Light.” In this Asian city, Artemis discovers the light that will help him bring back the glory to the name of the Fowls in the form of knowledge about the fairies and its race. In addition, before Ho Chi Minh leads the revolutionary forces in the Vietnamese war, he was a former teacher, just like Eion Colfer before he became full-time writer as stated in his introduction. The leader of the revolution, before having his popular name, was originally called “Nguyen,” the name of the informant of Artemis about the fairy race.

The setting in Ho Chi Minh helps establish the mood of an international suspenseful story. In addition, the similarities of a war between the conqueror and the locals affects the other elements of the story. The use of digital camera in the first chapter in order to capture the images of the Book established that it was set in the current era, which is the information era. This also helps to emphasize that Artemis will use technology or the whole story would use different types of technology that are present in the society. Changing the setting of the story may affect significantly the whole story because the author is somewhat connected to the place of the story. Changing it will definitely change his views as different places produces different experiences for different person.

Sources:

http://artemisfowl.fangathering.com/fowl-planet/real-world-locations/

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