Terms Related to Fiction - Setting
Setting –
the environment in which the action occurs
Physical setting –
the place where the action occurs: a park, a supermarket
Historical setting –
the moment in history where the action occurs
Geographical setting –
the town, state, country, or other geographical place
Cultural setting –
the ethnic, religious, or other setting relating to culture such as sociological
Atmosphere –
the general feeling in the environment created as a result of the tone and mood
Tone –
the attitude of the author toward the characters and events; in describing the situation as “one of many self-imposed troubles,” the author created a non-sympathetic tone,
Mood –
the resulting emotional setting from the tone; the feelings of the characters toward a character described as creating his own problems would not non-sympathetic or possibly indifference.
Character analysis –
the analysis of a character’s personality based on the behavior described in the work of literature; may be described in everyday language such as selfish, kind, thoughtful, or mean or in psychological terms such as having a narcissistic personality disorder or depressed.
Cultural context –
the consideration of the cultural setting in order to do a character analysis such as the pre-Women’s Movement in America in a rural community in the 1920s or 1930s.
