SETTING AS

LITERARY
DEVICE
Setting is comprised of the physical
characteristics of a room or a landscape,
the time of day, time of year, and/or period
of history.
It is deliberately created by an author
through careful choice of words (diction)
to vividly describe the view (imagery),
using allusions (Biblical/classical/cultural),
similes, and metaphors.

Authors use the traditional
associations connected with the cycles
of days and years:
spring ~ morning ~ youth
summer ~ noon ~ maturity
fall ~ evening ~ old age
winter ~ night ~ death

Authors may even manipulate the
traditional meanings for a deliberately
incongruous effect.
For example, to stage a murder in the
middle of the bright noon sun is to
suggest we have become shockingly
and indifferently violent.
Cities are usually settings of confusion and
isolation.
FUNCTIONS
OF SETTING
AS BACKGROUND FOR
ACTION
Can be complex, in order to give a sense of
life as it was in a particular historical past.
Can be minimal or inferred, indicating the
absurdity of setting.
For example, the journey down the coast
of Africa gives the sense of conflict that
surrounds the colonial period.
AS ANTAGONIST
Helps to establish conflict.
Can be an almost human, sinister force
intimately connected with the
characters.
For example, the shallow, uncharted
Congo gives Marlowe plenty of conflict
as he plies his way upstream.
AS A MEANS OF CREATING
APPROPRIATE ATMOSPHERE
This arouses the readers expectations
and establishes an appropriate state of
mind for events to follow.
For example: the mystical setting on
the Nellie prepares us for the strange,
psychological tale that Marlowe is about
to tell.
AS A MEANS OF REVEALING
CHARACTER
Setting can be a metaphor for the
character.
A cluttered room can be a metaphor for a
confused character.
A characters reaction to or perception of
setting also reveals character.
For example, Marlowes reaction to the
Congo reveals much about his restraint and
integrity.
AS A MEANS OF REINFORCING
THEME.
Setting can illustrate and clarify the
central idea of a work.
For example, the theme of alienation in
Heart of Darkness is continually
reinforced through the continually
deeping darkness in the journey up the
Congo River.
OTHER
FUNCTIONS
OF SETTING



Background
Provides a stage for the action
Serves as the stage on which the action occurs
Mood
Sets the tone for a given scene
Characterization
Tells something about the character's nature
Provides useful insight into characters qualities
Can be contrived by author, narrator, or character
Symbolic
Represents action in physical form
The physical layout of a setting may
reflect social relationships.
Sympathetic
Responds to emotional/intellectual state
of the character
Supernatural
Takes a role in shaping the direction
of the actionNo WILL.
Either enables a character to take
an intended action or
Disables a character from taking an
intended action
Actant
Setting acts as the character
Takes an ACTIVE role in either aiding
a character to take or blocking a
character from taking an intended
actionacts out of will.
Most commonly encountered in
fantasy stories or mythology.