Setting


 * Setting: ** The time and place in which a character lives in. How characters behave in a novel depend on the characters setting. The “time” refers to the many different __aspects__ of time that are important to the setting. Time refers to the actual clock time, calendar time (i.e. day, month, and year), seasonal time, and Historical time. “Place” also refers to many different aspects of location important to the setting and the story. Aspects of location include physical environment and nonphysical environment. Non physical environment means cultural influences such as education, social class, and religious beliefs revealed in the characters behavior, thoughts, statements, and dialogue. Setting can create the atmosphere of the novel; cause the conflict (man vs. nature), and have a direct affect on the characters actions and/ or motivations.

Example 1: ** In __Heat and Dust__, the narrator describes the town of Khatm. She says “The town of Khatm turned out to be a wretched little place. Of course Satipur isn’t all that grand either, but it does give a sense of having been allowed to grow according to its own needs. But Khatm just huddles in the shadow of the Nawab’s Palace. It seems to have been built only to serve Palace…The streets are dense, run-down, and dirty. There are many, many beggars,” (pg.11). This desciription of the town gives the reader an image of what the physical environment is like. Example 2: ** In the novel Olivia describes India as”Hot and dusty, the landscape utterly flat and monotonous…the vast distances, the vast sky, the dust and sun and occasional broken fort or mosque or cluster of tombs,” (pg.85). Olivia’s comments create visual imagery for the reader, and also an immense and open atmosphere. Example 3: ** The use of date and year in the novel. The “past” was labeled with 1923, and the present with day and month. This gives the reader a sense of time in which the events occur. Maybe not as much in the present, because no year is specified, but the month gives you a sense of what the season is. For the past you are given the year “1923,” for an “idea” of what culture and the physical environment might be like.
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 Cliff Chang