Answer:
The environment challenges him by making him dehydrated and both mentally and physically hurt. “Uncle cautioned him to make the water in his gourd last as long as possible. It was the hardest thing Salva had ever done, taking only tiny sips when his body cried out for huge gulps of thirst-quenching, life-giving water.
Do you know how I get to the post office
do you know why he left so soon?
Suspense. It's not Gothic lit without suspense.
The theme of The Count of Monte Cristo is revenge and forgiveness, power and powerlessness. When Dantes is given a life-prison sentence by his enemies, he spends every waking moment planning his revenge