ENGLISH

ELEVENTH GRADE

Module 1 - Lesson 4

Setting

Pretest

I. Complete the chart:

Setting

The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting.  For some stories the setting is very important, while for others it is not.  There are several aspects of a story's setting to consider when examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or all, may be present in a story):
 

a) Place - geographical location.  Where is the action of the story taking place?
b) Time - When is the story taking place? (Historical period, time of day, year, etc)
c) Weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
d) Social conditions - What is the daily life of the characters like? Does the story contain local customs (writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, culture, etc. of a particular place)?
e) Mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the beginning of the story?  Is it bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?

Setting

Practicing exercise

I. Look at these story openings. I haven’t told you where the story is set, but I have described it through the things you might see and hear if you were there. Can you guess where my stories are set?

A. Story 1

The automatic doors opened swiftly as Jade strode in. She glanced quickly at the cluster of signs and pressed on down the wide polished corridor. Ahead of her a set of double doors flew open and a trolley, pushed by five concerned faces, and passed rapidly by. The smell of antiseptic caught at the back of her throat. Pushing through the doors at the end of the corridor, she emerged into a brightly lit room. Rows of plastic seats groaned with injured people. Where was Manny? The call had been brief. All she knew was that Manny was here somewhere…

1.      I think the setting for story one is:

2.      The words and expressions that helped me guess were:

B. Story 2

Sadie thrust the ticket into the man’s hand. Half-torn he returned it and pulled open the door. Her eyes narrowed as she stepped forward urgently into the dimly-lit room. Stale popcorn collapsed under her feet. She felt her way down the narrow aisle. She had agreed to meet Gerry somewhere in the middle. The front was too close, whilst the back meant you spent most of your time staring at the hairstyle in front. A young couple stood up to let her pass; their coats fell from their laps and were lost in the dark alley beneath their folding seats.

1.      I think the setting for story two is:

2.      The words and expressions that helped me guess were:

Setting

Practicing exercise-Answer key

A.    Story 1

1.                Hospital

2.                Rows of plastic seats groaned with injured people.

B.     Story 2

1.                Movies

2.                Stale popcorn collapsed under her feet.

Setting

Quiz

I. Look at these story openings. I haven’t told you where the story is set, but I have described it through the things you might see and hear if you were there. Can you guess where my stories are set?

A. Story 1

The vegetables gleamed under the lighting as special offers swung giddily on their strings from the ceiling. He inched forward, keeping himself well hidden behind the woman whose child rocked in the metal cage provided at the back of the trolley. As they passed the cheese and milk a cool draught caught the back of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine…

1.      I think the setting for story one is:

2.      The words and expressions that helped me guess were:

B. Story 2

The warm dusty draught flapped at her coat, revealing the lining and causing her to pull it tight around her. She thrust her ticket into the metal slit and strode forward confidently. The dull whirring of the escalators carried her down, lost in the confusion of posters advertising West end shows and cheap phone calls. She thought she saw a familiar face passing upwards to her right and stared back to see if she were right…

1.      I think the setting for story two is:

2.      The words and expressions that helped me guess were:

Setting

Quiz-Answer key

A.    Story 1

1.                Supermarket

2.                The vegetables gleamed under the lighting as special offers swung giddily on their strings from the ceiling.

B.     Story 2

1.                Train station

2.                The dull whirring of the escalators carried her down, lost in the confusion of posters advertising West end shows and cheap phone calls.

Setting

Test

I. Read then choose the best answer:

Setting
By Cindy Grigg                                                                                                                                                                                                                

¹     Writers imagine a story to be happening in a particular place and time. The writer paints the reader a picture of the setting with words just as an artist paints pictures on canvas. Sights, sounds, colors, and textures are all vividly described to help the reader see the same setting that the writer sees in his mind.

²     The setting is where and when the story takes place. Does it occur in the past, present, or future? Does it take place in a palace, a dungeon, or on a plantation? Or does it take place on Earth, the moon, or on another planet far away? The setting of a story affects the mood and the characters. It can act as a symbol. The setting can even be the antagonist in a person-against-nature conflict. A good example of this is the Gary Paulsen book, Hatchet.

³     Eudora Welty, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, said, "Every story would be another story and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else ... Fiction depends for its life on place."

⁴     An integral setting is essential to the plot. It influences action, character, or theme. A story with an integral setting could not happen in any other place or time. An integral setting can add an important dimension of meaning to the story. If we understand the setting, it helps us understand the values, ideas, and attitudes of the characters of that particular place or time.

⁵     Sometimes the writer leaves many details of the setting to the readers' imaginations. A backdrop setting is relatively unimportant to the plot. It's like the flat painted scenery of a theater backdrop. A story with a backdrop setting could happen almost anywhere.
 
⁶     Setting should be apparent from the book's first chapters. It is commonly where the story takes place and can include a particular location, a city, a country, or a planet. There will almost always be more than one setting in a novel. Setting can include a time period if the book takes place before the present or in the future. Setting is not the same as the context because it is directly related to the action that takes place.

⁷     A setting may be used to create the mood or tone of the story. It makes a story seem real if the setting is realistic. Settings can even be used to distract the reader. If a reader is focusing on the creepy old house where a madman lived, he might not pay attention to what the characters are doing in that house.

⁸     Settings have a way of drawing the reader into the story and helping him understand the characters and their actions. Authors capture the attention of readers by painting a picture for us using words. If you have "traveled" to the land of Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit or have "watched" a Quidditch game brilliantly described by J.K. Rowling, then you have been drawn into a setting.

⁹     Creating a vivid setting is one way authors pull readers into a story and make them feel what it is like for the characters to be in that time and place. Being able to imagine themselves as part of the story helps readers understand why characters act and feel the way they do. It gives readers a better understanding of the author's theme.

Setting test-Answer Key
1    All of the above
2    False
3    All of the above
4    False
5    True
6    A backdrop setting

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