Read the following excerpt from a novel that explores the connection between character and setting:
"The barren landscape stretched for miles, with only the occasional cactus breaking the persistent monotony. Dust swirled upwards as the hot sun bore down on the cracked earth, the heat shimmering like an illusion. In this desolation, he felt both liberated and profoundly isolated, as if the expanse of emptiness mirrored his own internal struggles."