Serna by Ron Rash is one of those books that just becomes an instant classic. Ron Rash weaves a wonderful tale of greed, lust, love, murder, and betrayal. Reader will easily get caught up in this book cheering for one character, while applauding the death of another. Every page turned will pull the reader deeper and deeper into the story. Serna is definitely one book that cannot be judged by its cover.
Serna takes place in Western North Carolina in the early nineteen hundreds. Around the time the Pisgah National Forest was being founded, when America had started dedicating land for National Parks. The park was one of the major battles in the book. The government wanted The Boston Lumber Company’s land for the park. This time period was when…show more content… Rash uses a lot of irony in the book that wraps the book up in a very satisfying twist. Pemberton throughout the book is hunting a black panther said to be extinct. Although many believe one still lives in the area, therefore Pemberton being the hunter he is offers a twenty dollar gold piece to anyone who finds it. In a rather ironic twist in the end when Pemberton is injured he becomes the hunted. The last sound Pemberton hears is the child like cry of the panther as it comes for him. Another ironic twist is in the beginning when Rachel’s farther confronts Pemberton and Pemberton kills him. Serna give Rachel her father’s knife. When it is time for Serna to meet her end it is Jacob a mirror image of Pemberton. Who Serna had killed by Galloway, further more Jacob stabs Serna with Rachel’s father’s Knife. You can see how almost everyone meets an ironic twisted end. Pemberton also give Serna a white horse for a wedding gift. Could Rash have meant this to be symbolism Serna rides a white horse, as does Death. When Serna Trains the eagle to kill snake readers may infer that like the eagle the snakes in the grass cannot hide from…show more content… He describes each character in such a way that will make them love some characters and hate others. He also switches the story line to show some of each character’s life story. Which will make readers change their mind on how they feel about some characters. When the book begins readers may not like Rachel because her farther tries to kill Pemberton. But as they find out more and more about Rachel they might start to dislike pemberton. While other characters readers may keep the same opinion of, for example Serna most readers may just think she is crazy throughout the whole book. Readers also so get to watch some of the characters grow like Rachel. When readers start the book she is the poor naïve little teenager, that fell for the first man to show her attention. As the book progresses readers see her grow to a woman who is willing to do anything to protect her son. Readers see her get through the difficulties of not having a mother or father to teach her how to raise a child. You see Pemberton go from a strong willed man to an easily manipulated and naïve man at least when it comes to