The Fundamental Elements of Setting (from Writer’s Digest)
Here is a list of the specific elements that setting encompasses: (edited by Lobb)
Locale. This relates to broad categories such as a country, state, region, city, and town, as well as to more specific locales, such as a neighborhood, street, house or school. Other locales can include shorelines, islands, farms, rural areas, etc.
Time of year. The time of year is richly evocative and influential in fiction. Significant dates can also be used, such as the anniversary of a death of a character or real person, or the anniversary of a battle, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Time of day.
Elapsed time. Create a sense of pace and perhaps give an opportunity for messing with time.
Mood and atmosphere. Outer can represent or comment on inner. (pathetic fallacy) (sad rain) PS Sad rain is a sad TROPE - a repeated and by now trite and lame cliche
Climate. Weather and place are a factor in a story - hurricane alley, tornado alley, earthquake alley, snow alley, etc
Eras of historical importance. Important events, wars, or historical periods linked to the plot and theme might include the Civil war, World War II, medieval times, the Bubonic Plague, the gold rush in the 1800s, or the era of slavery in the South. (context)
Social/political/cultural environment. Cultural, political, and social influences can range widely and affect characters in many ways. The social era of a story often influences characters’ values, social and family roles, and sensibilities. (context)
Ancestral influences. In many regions of the United States, the ancestral influences of European countries such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland are prominent. The cities and bayous of Louisiana are populated with distinctive groups influenced by their Native American, French-Canadian, and African American forebears. Ancestral influences can be depicted in cuisine, dialogue, values, attitudes, and general outlook. (may be interesting in context)
What does the setting contribute? What does it mean? WHAT COULD IT MEAN?
THEME
What is theme of a story?
It is some underlay of communication that may come from the author.
OR IT MAY NOT
Maybe it comes from the reader’s interpretation!
Or maybe, BOTH!
There is an assumption of meaning within the context of the story.
That is to say, we have to believe (on some level) that everything means something.
There are layers of meaning and they need to be figured out through some active process that English teachers seem to enjoy and that young people do not.
Why is that?
(there is no correct answer - we have to figure out what we know)
why do people actively resist learning, changing and growing?
Why don’t people want things to be complex?
Why do people insist on simplicity?
Because it is easier to understand things if they are simple.
If things are complex, there may be more at risk - i.e. if the surgery has a lot of complications, the patient could die
Maybe complexity is frightening because it is suggestive that we are missing things and that is not a good feeling.
It might all be about preventing bad feelings.
The process of digging into something may involved INFERENCING
INFERRING
Combining your own experiences, ideas and thinking with external source material (text material, situations, etc) to derive a conclusion that has more meaning that the obvious
Requires more of the viewer -
Theme in a story is something that comes from this combination of elements - viewer + text + writer + context
Twins
Theme Ideas?
Relationship issues - domestic conflict - adultery (and what about it?) this story shows that it comes back to hurt you - Karmic nature of adultery and specifically, the thinking and nature of people who engage in it
Themes are universals much of the time - human elements - aspects of our nature that we recognize in the story
Some people who look for theme realize that they’re, in some ways, looking at themselves
THIS IS WHY I FORCE YOU TO USE CONTEXT BECAUSE YOU WERE RAISED IN A CULTURE THAT DOES NOT VALUE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
The idea is that we’re actually learning more about ourselves, and that can be uncomfortable
Prove your inference, prove your idea, use source material, SHOW YOUR THINKING in your answer, make your reasoning obvious, show the linkage between what you see, what you think and what is the answer, and then you get the “right” answer
Above is what we’re really learning in English class.
How can we read stuff, learn about it, apply it to ourselves and the world around us, and then make the connection that is meaningful and helps us to grow?
Can we, as a class, now that we have made some progress in the thinking and ideation behind analysis, we should probably make up some kind of reusable, repeatable, constantly available, analysis scheme or pattern, which we can then apply.
Read first.
Context for the writer, the story itself, etc.
Title meaning? Add anything?
A deeper read.
Maybe read with a highlighter or pen and note things that STAND OUT
What could that mean - STAND OUT - something where you feel there is some extra meaning, something that requires explanation, definition or further understanding
OR MAYBE, if you're in the other class, you did more like the note below:
The Fundamental Elements of Setting (Writer’s Digest)
Here is a list of the specific elements that setting encompasses: (edited by Lobb)
Locale. This relates to broad categories such as a country, state, region, city, and town, as well as to more specific locales, such as a neighborhood, street, house or school. Other locales can include shorelines, islands, farms, rural areas, etc.
Time of year. The time of year is richly evocative and influential in fiction. Significant dates can also be used, such as the anniversary of a death of a character or real person, or the anniversary of a battle, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Time of day.
Elapsed time. Create a sense of pace and perhaps give an opportunity for messing with time.
Mood and atmosphere. Outer can represent or comment on inner. (pathetic fallacy) (sad rain)
Climate. Weather and place are a factor in a story - hurricane alley, tornado alley, earthquake alley, snow alley, etc
Eras of historical importance. Important events, wars, or historical periods linked to the plot and theme might include the Civil war, World War II, medieval times, the Bubonic Plague, the gold rush in the 1800s, or the era of slavery in the South. (context)
Social/political/cultural environment. Cultural, political, and social influences can range widely and affect characters in many ways. The social era of a story often influences characters’ values, social and family roles, and sensibilities. (context)
Ancestral influences. In many regions of the United States, the ancestral influences of European countries such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland are prominent. The cities and bayous of Louisiana are populated with distinctive groups influenced by their Native American, French-Canadian, and African American forebears. Ancestral influences can be depicted in cuisine, dialogue, values, attitudes, and general outlook. (may be interesting in context)
Theme - this is the classic English teacher “thing”
there is a meaning within a story that comes from the reading of it
we think that it’s a message, but it’s rarely that easy or boring
Fables - as in Aesop’s, present a very simplistic vision of a theme- a MORAL - which is a little lesson or an observation about human nature
Fox and the Grapes - a fox tries to get some grapes, but they’re up too high, he tries a few times, then he leaves and says, I didn’t want them anyway, they’re sour.
This is a really good observation of human beings when they can’t get what they want.
We need to be able to figure out all the variations and layers that can exist in a story, in a poem, in a shot story, in a novel, in talking to Laine, or in anything really. Right cole?
So, the idea here is that you need to be able to find the hidden, seek the symbolic, take a guess, look for clues and make associations in order to find the meaning
EVERYTHING means something
Consider theme as an engagement between the writer and the reader
Theme is negotiated
Active process
Twins -
there is a theme there, something about getting what you deserve,
about being careful in thinking you’re smarter than those around you,
considering the negative elements of a marriage or relationship.
Considering layers and deeper meanings makes everything more interesting, and makes you a more active audience member.
INFERENCE - you (the reader) creates a layer of meaning that isn’t based on the surface information - you DERIVE meaning from a number of elements, including your own thinking!
“Alternatively, inference may be defined as the non-logical, but rational means, through observation of patterns of facts, to indirectly see new meanings and contexts for understanding.” - Wikipedia
it’s about 50-50 between the source and the person making the inference (never believe stats)
There is a collusion between the knowledge and thinking of the viewer and the source material.
In order to this properly (infer) you need to have schema, prior knowledge, frames of references, base knowledge, etc, etc.
THIS IS WHY I FORCE YOU TO USE CONTEXT BECAUSE YOU WERE RAISED IN A CULTURE THAT DOES NOT VALUE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
I love science and math and I hate English because no answers are actually right.
What about me?
Prove your inference, prove your idea, use source material, SHOW YOUR THINKING in your answer, make the reasoning obvious, show the linkage between what you see, what you think and what is the answer, and then you get the “right” answer
Can we, as a class, now that we have made some progress in the thinking and ideation behind analysis, we should probably make up some kind of reusable, repeatable, constantly available, analysis scheme or pattern, which we can then apply.
Analysis Plan
Read the entire piece.
READ IT AGAIN more carefully, feel free to mark elements (see below)
Look up words to be defined *terms, references, names, places, phrases, etc*
Title analysis - what could it mean? what does it do for the story and reader expectation?
Author! Who is this person!? What, where, when, why, how?
Context for the story, the author, the time period, etc
Powerful words, phrases and elements - strong, well written, stand out, seem meaningful, have good description, etc - DISCUSSION AREA/POINT
Plot
Setting
Character/Characterization
Theme
The point is some kind of understanding, appreciation, and deeper thinking about ______________.
