Monday, August 27

1
Monday, August 27

• Seating Chart (3)
• Get out Homework (to be turned in at the end of
  class with an exit slip) (2)
• In your notes Quick thinkwhy is it important
  to understand setting other than simply knowing
  time and place? (7)
• How is understanding setting relevant in your
  life?
• Setting (25)
• Exit Slip (7)

2
Setting

• Setting is the historical time and place and the
  social circumstances that create the world in
  which characters act and make choices.

3
Setting can be revealed through the authors use
of details about one or more of the following

• Geographic location
• Cultural backdrop/social context/time period
• Artificial environment
• Props

4
Levels of Setting

• Micro
• The most immediate and earliest influences
• Family, local friendships and peer groups,
  neighborhood, community institutions
• Meso
• Intermediate level of influence which are larger
  and less personal
• Government, entertainment, news organizations,
  large geographic regions
• Macro
• Most distant level
• International relations, global economy, culture,
  climate change

5
Dimensions of Setting

• Physical Setting
• Physical location, climate, physical features
• Address, country, city, neighborhood, street,
  architecture, floor plan, etc.
• Temporal Setting (time)
• The period or era
• The duration of time in which the story takes
  place
• Social/Psychological Setting
• The human dimension
• Depending on the social context of the setting
  (who is there) the expectations of the story
  change
• The situation in which the setting is set, often
  gives a clue to the conflict of the story. (When
  a character tries to change the status quo,
  conflict occurs.)

6
In addition to identifying the setting, it is
also necessary to analyze the effect setting may
have on such elements as structure, symbol,
irony, tone, mood, and character.
7
Setting As it Creates Mood or Atmosphere

• Through details about the environment, the
  emotional charge of a literary piece is created,
  and that charge prepares the reader for what is
  to come.
• When authors describe light, shadow, colors,
  shapes, smells, and sounds, they are using
  setting to create distinctive moods.
• Examples gloomy, foreboding, suspenseful,
  ominous, dreary, brooding, tragic, hopeless,
  happy, romantic, mysterious.

8
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the
ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry,
bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down
on or to eat it was a hobbit-hole, and that
means comfort. It had a perfectly round door
like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny
yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door
opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel a
very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with
panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted,
provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots
of pegs for hats and coatsthe hobbit was fond of
visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going
fairly but not quite straight into the side of
the hillThe Hill, as all the people for many
miles round called itand many little round doors
opened out of it, first on one side and then on
another. No going upstairs for the hobbit
bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of
these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to
clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the
same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The
best rooms were all on the lefthand side (going
in), for these were the only ones to have
windows, deep-set round windows looking over his
garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the
river. The Hobbit
9
Setting as a Reflection of Character

• When analyzing the correlation between setting
  and character, one should consider the way
  characters respond to their environment and their
  adjustment to any changes in this setting. If an
  author gives details about a characters favorite
  room, workplace, hideaway, or manner of dress,
  the reader may infer certain traits which serve
  to enhance character development.

10
What can you infer about the characters of Tony
and Ultima from the authors words about the
setting?

• Ultima came to stay with us the summer I was
  almost seven. When she came the beauty of the
  Ilano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling
  waters of the river sang to the hum of the
  turning earth. The magical time of childhood
  stood still, and the pulse of the living earth
  pressed its mystery into my living blood. She
  took my hand, and the silent, magic powers she
  possessed made the beauty from the raw, sun-baked
  Ilano, the green river valley, and the blue bowl
  which was the white suns home. My bare feet
  felt the throbbing earth and my body trembled
  with excitement. Time stood still, and it shared
  with me all that had been, and all that was to
  come
• From Bless Me, Ultima

11
Archetypal Settings

• Archetypal settings or setting elements have
  some universal aspect that is associated by most
  people with a particular human experience. For
  example, deserts are associated with spiritual
  quests through which the character is cleansed of
  desire and materialism and in which he or she has
  a divine or prophetic vision. The sea is a
  setting that hints at an opportunity to delve
  into the subconscious. Underground places
  suggest an experience in which the hero confronts
  the darker or more unpleasant aspects of the
  self, including the fear of death. Many other
  archetypal settings enrich the readers
  understanding of the authors chosen theme.
  Other archetypal settings include the river,
  garden, wasteland, maze, castle, tower,
  wilderness, and the threshold.

12
Why is it so important?

• With all the information we can gain from the
  setting, the author is really giving us rules
  about what to expect.
• Setting determines rules, constraints, and
  possibilities, potential conflicts and possible
  consequences

13
Think about Your Life

• How do the rules you live by change with setting?
• How do your expectations change with setting?
• Exit slip On last nights homework, write down
  one reason understanding setting is important and
  why.