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We speak student!

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Power in Literature: Setting

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a la Shmoop.

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Okay so let's shift a little bit and talk about setting.

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Another very important tool used by authors.

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What is setting?

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Setting is basically everything. [ancient Egypt]

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It's the backdrop of the story. That can be the historical context,

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both time and place, it can be

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the micro setting meaning as opposed to the macro setting which is the big

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setting of you know, 1920's New York [old 1920s movie]

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it can be the micro setting: Gatsby's house. [view of mansion]

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The smaller location where something takes place.

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And setting can also be kind of a mental state

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if there's a story that takes place completely in someone's mind [guy's mind pops open with springs]

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that is the setting like their chronic mind or whatever the case is but yes

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setting is basically the context and the backdrop for the story

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How should we assess the story or setting in its context?

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One of the main things we learn from the Great Gatsby

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about the nineteen twenties

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is that alcohol was illegal

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and it was everywhere and we kind of see this prohibition [police fighting gangs]

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era, you know, crazy party life happening and this is something that you know [people dancing]

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maybe we didn't learn about in seventh or eighth grade history,

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and then we come in we read this book for the first time in ninth grade,

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and we're like, "wait, what's the big deal these people are all over 21?"

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"Oh! Oh alcohol was illegal," and then we learn this whole new historical

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concept so you don't just have to know about the literature you have to know about the history too

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and you can't have one without the other so historical setting is hugely

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important in all literature.

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How does setting convey the author's message?

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We have kind of the macro setting again that means the bigger

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backdrop setting. In the Hunger Games, which is

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post-apocalyptic North America. [the Terminator in a wasteland]

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"Come with me if you want to live."

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we're in the same place that we live right now but

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you know however many years in the future once there's been a clear war and

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you know everything's about to, you know what [nuclear explosion]

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But we also have these micro settings for example the Capitol

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everyone's dressed up to the nines and they have created

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outfits and makeup all this insane stuff and then you have District 13

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where everything is just dreary, dark the reason that District 13 is like that is

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because it's a mining town [miner walks across screen]

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so there happened to be mines in District 13 and that

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dictates what the setting it so those are two very

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distinct micro settings within one larger macro setting.

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Got it, makes sense. So apply the same logic

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to a couple of other books: Catcher in the Rye,

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Twilight, maybe To Kill a Mockingbird

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Yeah, sure

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so Catcher in the Rye, New York City is basically a character [New York City building with googly-eyes]

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in the story, everything that happens to Holden happens because he's

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in New York City we think about

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Central Park and just kind of him being on buses and public transportation [guy riding the underground]

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this isn't stuff that necessarily happens in other locations sometimes the setting can be

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so powerful that it becomes a character in itself, you mentioned Twilight

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Forks, Washington it takes place up there because it's dark

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there's no sun the vampires can live without being exposed you know imagine

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if it had taken place in

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LA, it would've ended two pages in [Vampire in front of Hollywood sign explodes]

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To Kill a Mockingbird takes place you know in

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pre-civil rights America and

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we kind of see this tension where Scout like sees what's happening

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and African Americans are treated terribly and she kinda doesn't get it

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but you know we get to see into the heart of

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exactly what was going on before that'll happen.

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Do authors use setting to tell their story?

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The authors writing what they know it maybe comes a little bit more naturally

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and they're not necessarily

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having think about it that hard, if you're writing something

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that is a vampire, dystopian, futuristic whatever [happy vampire and the Terminator in wasteland]

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if you're writing something that you don't know well or something that doesn't exist

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fantasy stories that's when you you have to really become a world builder

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people like Tolkien or JK Rowling [Tolkien holds ring of power while Rowling holds a wand]

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like these people had to create a world from scratch and those are the people

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that have to be very focused on setting.

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Okay, makes a ton of sense.

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What is setting?

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How should we assess the story/setting in its context?

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How does setting convey the author's message?

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Do authors use setting to tell their story?

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"Come with me if you want to live"

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