Definition
Setting is an environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place. It may provide particular information about placement and timing, such as New York, America, in the year 1820. Setting could be simply descriptive, like a lonely cottage on a mountain. Social conditions, historical time, geographical locations, weather, immediate surroundings, and timing are all different aspects of setting.
There are three major components to setting: social environment, place, and time. Moreover, setting could be an actual region, or a city made larger than life, as James Joyce characterizes Dublin in Ulysses. Or, it could be a work of the author’s imagination, such as Vladimir Nabokov’s imaginative place, space-time continuum in Ada.
Types of Setting
There are two main types of setting:
Backdrop Setting
Backdrop setting emerges when it is not important for a story, and it could happen in any setting. For instance, A. A. Milne’s story Winnie-the-Pooh could take place in any type of setting.
Integral Setting
It is when the place and time influences the theme, character, and action of a story. This type of setting controls the characters. By confining a certain character to a particular setting, the writer defines the character. Beatrix Potter’s short story The Tail of Peter Rabbit is an example of integral setting, in which the behavior of Peter becomes an integral part of the setting. Another good example of this type of setting can be seen in E. B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web.
Examples of Setting in Literature
Example #1: Wuthering Heights (By Emily Bronte)
In Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, its setting plays a vital role, as it reflects the mood of major characters and their actions, while contributing to its overall atmosphere. The novel has three main settings:
The Moors
Wuthering Heights
Thrushcross Grange
The Moors symbolize wilderness and freedom, as nobody owns them, and everyone can freely move about anytime. Wuthering Heights depicts weather around this house, which is stormy and gloomy. The characters are cruel and extremely passionate. Thrushcross Grange, on the other hand, is contrary to Wuthering Heights because its weather is calm, while its inhabitants are dull and weak.
Example #2: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (By Christopher Marlowe)
Christopher Marlowe’s poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is set in the countryside in the springtime. The springtime has a double purpose, as it refers to baby animals and budding flowers, and the fifth month of the year. Then the month of May sets the scene as well as emphasizes fertility and new life linked with springtime. Thus, the poet has idealized the image of rural life in the background of his personal emotions, while time is stationary in the poem.
Definition of Atmosphere
A literary technique, atmosphere is a type of feeling that readers get from a narrative, based on details such as setting, background, objects, and foreshadowing. A mood can serve as a vehicle for establishing atmosphere. In literary works, atmosphere refers to emotions or feelings an author conveys to his readers through description of objects and settings, such as in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter tales, in which she spins a whimsical and enthralling atmosphere. Bear in mind that atmosphere may vary throughout a literary piece.
Example #1:The Raven (By Edgar Allen Poe)
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door –
“Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door –
Only this and nothing more.”
Example #2: The Vision (By Dean Koontz)
“The woman raised her hands and stared at them; stared through them.
Her voice was soft but tense. ‘Blood on his hands.’ Her own hands were clean and pale.”
When we read these lines, they immediately bring to our mind an emotional response, and draw our attention. This is exactly what atmosphere does in a literary work.
G. SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLISMS
Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.
Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you.
Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain,” for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where, and how it is used. It also depends on who reads the work.
Examples of Symbolism in Literature
To develop symbolism in his work, a writer utilizes other figures of speech, like metaphors, similes, and allegory, as tools. Some symbolism examples in literature are listed below with brief analysis:
Example #1: As you Like It (By William Shakespeare)
We find symbolic value in Shakespeare’s famous monologue in his play As you Like It:
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
they have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,”
These lines are symbolic of the fact that men and women, in the course of their lives, perform different roles. “A stage” here symbolizes the world, and “players” is a symbol for human beings.
Example #2: Ah Sunflower (By William Blake)
William Blake goes symbolic in his poem Ah Sunflower. He says:
“Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveler’s journey is done;”
Blake uses a sunflower as a symbol for human beings, and “the sun” symbolizes life. Therefore, these lines symbolically refer to their life cycle and their yearning for a never-ending life.
H. IRONY
Definition
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference between appearance and reality.
Types of Irony
On the grounds of the above definition, we distinguish two basic types of irony: (1) verbal irony, and (2) situational irony. Verbal irony involves what one does not mean. For example, when in response to a foolish idea, we say, “What a great idea!” This is verbal irony. Situational irony occurs when, for instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of another, even when the same misfortune is, unbeknownst to him, befalling him.
Irony Examples in Literature
Example #1: Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)
We come across the following lines in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V:
“Go ask his name: if he be married.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was, and says if he were married, then her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony because the audience knows that she is going to die on her wedding bed.
Example #2: Julius Caesar (By William Shakespeare)
Shakespeare employs this verbal irony in Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II:
CASSIUS: ” ‘Tis true this god did shake.”
Cassius, despite knowing the mortal flaws of Caesar, calls him “this god”.
I. FIGURES OF SPEECH
Definition
A figure of speech is a phrase or word having different meanings than its literal meanings. It conveys meaning by identifying or comparing one thing to another, which has connotation or meaning familiar to the audience. That is why it is helpful in creating vivid rhetorical effect.
Types of figures of Speech
There are many types of figures of speech. Here are a few of them with detailed descriptions:
EXAMPLES:
Personification
It occurs when a writer gives human traits to non-human or inanimate objects. It is similar to metaphors and similes that also use comparison between two objects. For instance,
“Hadn’t she felt it in every touch of the sunshine, as its golden finger-tips pressed her lids open and wound their way through her hair?”
(“The Mother’s Recompense” by Edith Wharton)
In the above lines, the speaker is personifying sunshine as it has finger tips that wound their way into her hair. This is trait of using finger-tips in hair is a human one.
Understatement and Hyperbole
These two figures of speech are opposite to each other. Hyperbole uses extreme exaggeration. It exaggerates to lay emphasis on a certain quality or feature. It stirs up emotions among the readers, these emotions could be about happiness, romance, inspiration, laughter or sadness.
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street.”
(“As I Walked Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden)
In this poem, Auden has used hyperbole to stress on how long his love his beloved would last. Just imagine when China and Africa would meet and can river jump up over the mountains? How salmon can be intelligent enough so that it could sing and evolve enough and walk the streets?
Whereas understatement uses less than whatever is intended, such as,
“You killed my family. And I don’t like that kind of thing.”
(“The Chosen One” by Boon Collins and Rob Schneider)
In this line, the speaker is using an understatement because someone has killed his family and he is just taking it very normal like nothing serious has happened.
Simile
It is a type of comparison between things or objects by using “as” or “like.” See the following example:
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
My heart is like a rainbow shell…
(“A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti)
Rossetti has used simile thrice in this part of the poem, comparing her heart to a “singing bird”, “an apple-tree”, and a rainbow shell.” The poet makes comparison of heart to a happy bird in a nest, an apple tree full with fruits and a beautiful shell in the sea, full of peace and joy.
Metaphor
Metaphor is comparing two unlike objects or things, which may have some common qualities.
Presentiment – is that long shadow – on the lawn –
Indicative that Suns go down –
The notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness – is about to pass –
(“Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn” by Emily Dickinson)
In this example, Dickinson presents presentiment as a shadow. Presentiment actually means anxiety or foreboding, which she calls a shadow. In fact, she makes compares it with shadow to provide a better description of anxiety that could creep up in a person’s life and cause fear.
Pun
Pun is the manipulation of words that have more than one meanings. It brings humor in an expression.
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
And Will to boot, and Will in overplus;
(“Sonnet 135” by William Shakespeare)
See the use of odd grammar rule, which is the capitalization of word “Will.” Usually in the middle of a line or sentence, writers capitalize a name. Here it is the first name of Shakespeare. It means he has created pun of his own name.
J. DIALOGUE
A dialogue is a literary technique in which writers employ two or more characters to be engaged in conversation with one another. In literature, it is a conversational passage, or a spoken or written exchange of conversation in a group, or between two persons directed towards a particular subject. The use of dialogues can be seen back in classical literature, especially in Plato’s Republic. Several other philosophers also used this technique for rhetorical and argumentative purposes. Generally, it makes a literary work enjoyable and lively.
Types of Dialogue
There are two types of dialogue in literature:
Inner Dialogue
– In inner dialogue, the characters speak to themselves and reveal their personalities. To use inner dialogue, writers employ literary techniques like stream of consciousness or dramatic monologue. We often find such dialogues in the works of James Joyce, Virginia Wolf, and William Faulkner.
Outer Dialogue
– Outer dialogue is a simple conversation between two characters, used in almost all types of fictional works.
Examples of Dialogue in Literature
Let us see how famous writers have used dialogues for resonance and meaning in their works:
Example #1: Wuthering Heights (By Emily Bronte)
“Now he is here,” I exclaimed. “For Heaven’s sake, hurry down! Do be quick; and stay among the trees till he is fairly in.”
“I must go, Cathy,” said Heathcliff, seeking to extricate himself from his companion’s arms. “I won’t stray five yards from your window…”
“For one hour,” he pleaded earnestly.
“Not for one minute,” she replied.
“I must–Linton will be up immediately,” persisted the intruder.
Miss Bronte has employed surprises, opposition, and reversals in this dialogue like will-it-happen, when he says, “But, if I live, I’ll see you …” She has inserted these expressions in order to develop conflict in the plot.
Example #2: Crime and Punishment (By Fyodor Dostoevsky)
“But who did he tell it to? You and me?”
“And Porfiry.”
“What does it matter?”
“And, by the way, do you have any influence over them, his mother and sister? Tell them to be more careful with him today …”
“They’ll get on all right!” Razumikhin answered reluctantly.
“Why is he so set against this Luzhin? A man with money and she doesn’t dislike him …
“But what business is it of yours?” Razumikhin cried with annoyance.
In this excerpt, notice the use of conflict, emotions, information, conflict, reversal, and opposition flowing by. The ideas and information are expressed with perfect timing, but here an important point is that the characters are not responding with a definite answer. This is a beautiful piece of dialogue.
K. SCENE
DEFINITION
Scenes are the building blocks of your novel. When you plan (if you plan!), you’re thinking in scenes: individual little chunks of story that build on one another as they work towards the conclusion.
EXAMPLE:
Tending Toward Summary:
Crossing the street, Henry met a somewhat hairy man who wanted to know the way to the pet store. Henry was curt, and just kept on walking after he pointed the strange man in the right direction. Then something huge plucked the man off the road and Henry realized the man actually had been a giant hamster, and the thing that plucked him was a dragon.
Full-blown Scene:
Henry met the somewhat hairy, husky man half-way across the street, already flustered from a flat tire, the heat of the day, and now having to walk home with a big bag of groceries.
“Hi,” said the man, who seemed to have a very muscular nose, “I was wondering if you could show me the way to the pet store?”
“It’s to the left down that alley,” Henry said, without even thinking about it.
“Thanks.”
The strange man started to walk down the alley when a huge shadow flashed downward, and grabbed him up.
Henry dropped his groceries with a scream, looked up, and realized that not only had he just given directions to a huge talking hamster, but a dragon had just pulled the poor creature right up into the sky.
“Let him go!” he cried out, to the two rapidly receding dots. Even though he didn’t know the hamster at all. Was that discriminatory against dragons? he thought as he fainted dead away in the street.
Tending Toward Use of Half-Scene:
He told the police all about the dragon and the giant hamster, but they looked at him as if he were crazy. Which made him realize that if he told his wife about this, she wouldn’t believe him. She’d crinkle her ears at him, sniffle her nose and call him ridiculous. “Which is the way to the pet store, Chosen One,” he remembered the hamster saying. He also remembered the hamster smelled like sea salt and barnacles, which seemed unusual. Chosen One. Wait. The hamster had said chosen one? When the police let him go the street on the way home, Henry was still pondering that. What to tell his wife? Giant rabbits like his wife usually didn’t respond well to strange facts.
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