The first question I have decided to explore is: “Does Lewis Nordan write Music of the Swamp in a sense that downplays poverty and death, or in a way that romanticizes it?” The second question is: “Does Sugar Mecklin have a mental disorder to bear the mental pain of abuse and poverty, or is it just his given personality?” Through and through, personally, I felt that this book alludes to more than just the life and adventures of Sugar Mecklin. In the way that Nordman describes the area and how the characters act and dress, it makes me wonder if he wants poverty to be addressed in the Mississippi Delta. In a scholarly article titled “Memory, Death, the Delta, and St. Augustine: Autobiography in Lewis Nordan's The Music of the Swamp,” author Edward Dupuy notes how the geography of this book plays a huge role in the characters' lives. Likewise, Dupuy also points out the cultural differences living in the Delta has versus anywhere else. So, it seems Nordan attempts to draw conclusions to the poverty in the Delta, but slightly dismisses the severity of it by writing this novel in magical terms. The intensity of death that follows this particular community and geography is also
![majortests.com](http://patterns.studymode.com/1.11/dist/images/logos/major-tests/logo-major-tests-large.png)