American Literature:

Elements of Short Stories

Mr. Alexander Parini
 SETTING

What is the setting of a work?

The setting of a work is its historical, geographical, and

physical location.

That is where a work is set, and when a work takes place.

However, setting is also concerned with a wide variety of physical and

cultural features (smell, feelings and opinion…)
 SETTING

So it is the time and place in which the events of a literary work

occur. Setting includes not only the physical surroundings, but
also the ideas, customs,
values, and beliefs of a particular time and place.

Setting often helps create an atmosphere or a mood.

Setting plays an important part in William Faulkner’s

“A Rose for Emily.”
A ROSE FOR EMILY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuyXP25Hrsc
 Types of setting

A knowledge of these types of setting may help

readers understand a work fully.
 Types of setting
Historical context

• Historical context establishes a social, cultural, economic, and

political environment.

• The knowledge of the approximate year or historical period

during which a story takes place can help understand characters'
behaviors and impulse, circumstances that influence the story's
action, and a writer's use of plot devices.
 Types of setting
Historical context

War, peace,
economics,
politics…Or
imagination!
 Types of setting
Geographical context
• Differences in plot development and characters‘ motivation can be
interpreted on the basis of a specific country, or regional differences, or
the size of a town or city.

New York City Alaska

 Types of setting
Physical Context

• A work's physical context

includes such factors as the
time of day, whether a story
unfolds primarily inside or
out-of-doors, what the
weather is like, and the
story's general atmosphere.
 The uses of setting
Setting and Organization

An author may use setting to organize and to

frame his work.

e.g. the house of Emily Grierson.

 The uses of setting
Setting and Character:

Setting may leave a certain effect on character.

Readers can easily recognize a character's growth
or development through the place, circumstances,
and time.
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

1. Are the characters happy or unhappy

where they live?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

2. How do they feel about their places? Do

they seem adjusted?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

3. Do they want to stay or leave?

 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

4. Does the economic, cultural, or ethnic level

of the setting make the characters think in
any unique ways?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

5. What jobs do the characters perform

because of their ways of life?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

6. What restraints or freedoms do these jobs

cause?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

7. How does the setting influence their

decisions, transportation, speech habits, eating
habits, attitudes about love and honor and life?
 The uses of setting
These questions may be helpful in finding the
effect of setting on character.

7. How does the setting influence their

decisions, transportation, speech habits, eating
habits, attitudes about love and honor and life?
Reminder : STAGES OF A PLOT (CINDERELLA)

"
Jack London (1876 – 1916)

To Build a Fire (1902, 1908)

was an American author, journalist, and

social activist. A pioneer in the then-
burgeoning world of commercial magazine
fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers
to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large
fortune from his fiction alone.
To Build a Fire

Illustration for the short story

To Build a Fire
by Jack London
 To Build a Fire

Questions

1. What did the man fail to do because of his lack of imagination?

2. How did this lack of imagination help to cause his death?
3. What mistakes in judgment did the man make?
4. What did the dog's instinct tell him? .
5. What does fire symbolize in the story?
6. Why did Jack London give no name to the man or to the dog?
7. What details are given in the story to indicate how cold it was?
8. What is your opinion of the ending of the story?
9. How influential is the setting presented in the story on the man?
10. How many sections can the story be divided on the basis of the setting?