A & P, By Susan Glaspell Essay

Literature is a very explicit term that includes so many time honored written masterpieces. A narrative would be exceedingly dull if nothing ever occurred to the characters in a specific surrounding. One of the key elements that affects the plotline are the various major settings throughout the story. The setting is the scene in which a story takes place, which involves the time, the location, and the natural environment. It can also greatly affect the plotline of the novel and the mood of the characters. It can easily create the tone, or atmosphere, of a certain scene in a story. The characteristics of a setting pushes the audience to gain a feeling of the tension a character must experience, and thus the suspenseful tone is developed. There are two major settings that take place in A Prayer for Owen Meany, which greatly adds to the novel as a whole. They are Gravesend, New Hampshire and Toronto, Canada. These two locations are vitally connected to the distinct time period, which deeply explore the roles the characters play and how they are perceived by characters like John Wheelwright and Owen Meany.

A novel’s setting contributes to the atmosphere of a story in a myriad of ways. Setting provides insight of a character’s point of view, the culture of a specific time, and transports the reader to another world. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley describes breathtaking scenes of nature in immense detail. Her descriptions of the Alps and the destroyed tree relate to the pursuit of knowledge, power and the idea of “playing God”, by providing places of contemplation and comparison for a reader to ponder on these issues.

The short story “A & P” by John Updike is about a young man’s decision to stand up for others or, in the other characters’ opinions, make a foolish decision by abandoning his responsibility. At first he believes his decision is the right thing, quitting his job for how the girls were being treated. Then when he gets outside of the store, he realizes the world he just left behind, regrets his decision, and begins to question his actions. He starts to overthink what the world has to offer him, making his worldview change from underrating to overrating. His “unsure of the world’s dangers” worldview in the beginning changes to overrating the dangers of the future ahead at the end of the story causing Sammy to change throughout “A & P”.

    In literature, setting is often used to enhance or develop characters, provide realism, and create a mood or atmosphere for a story (Roberts 256). Two short stories, "The Shawl" by Cynthia Ozick and Walter Van Tillburg Clark’s "The Portable Phonograph" explore victims of war in the vivid settings that the authors have created. Although both works are vague as to geographic setting and place in time, the authors’ detailed descriptions of the character’s surroundings envelop the reader and lend an air of authenticity to the tales (Kauvar 180). "The Shawl" and "The Portable Phonograph" differ in their treatment of symbolism and characterization but their ingenious

In this book setting is one of the many main points because it helps define the situation or scene and shows the type of mood that is in that section and what the characters are feeling or thinking.

The setting can affect the character by putting the character in a place where he or she is less comfortable with. This can affect them by having to face more struggles throughout the book. Also, it can cause them to become more comfortable with change as the novel progresses. This setting can also impact the main character because if the setting is not well chosen then the book will not turn out how the author probably planned. By this I mean, it can affect the plot, theme, and conflicts in the book. Conflicts can occur with the setting if the story does not line up. Finally, the novel’s setting contributes to the conflicts and problems that occur within the characters lives . With the setting the character may interfere with problems along

Without these settings, nothing would really happen in this story; the conflict that drives the story forward is born out of its setting. As Carlson writes, setting is something that “translates many times as dramatic

The setting to a piece of literature is just as important as the characters, or plot. The setting helps the reader identify where this story took place and when it happened. The environment of a story helps the audience visualize where the characters are in the story. It is like a piece to a puzzle that is necessary in making the story whole.

In a piece of literary work there are many aspects that go along with having the reader be able to engage with and understand the story the narrator is telling. Literary aspects like tone, symbolism and setting is an extremely important part in understanding how and why a character acts. Knowing the time and place a story is set in helps the reader understand what is going on, who the characters are, and sets the reader up to understand the story that is about to unfold.

The setting as a whole is a crucial factor that the author establishes from the story’s opening.

Authors have tough jobs. They have to express their purpose, themes, a plot, characters, and development, along with their setting, in an interesting and effective way. Some of the best stories and authors can express a setting very cleverly and creatively. Two examples are The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The Meteor by John Wyndham. Along with developing the rest of their story, Wyndham and Dickens use hidden descriptive language in a steady progression to paint a picture (the setting) for the reader.

Describe at least ONE important setting in the written text(s). Explain how the setting helped to show the writer’s idea(s).

“Setting is the most versatile device an author can use when writing fiction. Setting is comprised of the time, location, position and aims to capture the essence and sometime social aspects of a period in time. In a given story, setting can serve a purpose to develop a story in a certain way or be used to accomplish and multitude of objectives. Setting offers context to a character 's’ surroundings which can then led to further insight into a variety of relevant themes or moments. Closely examining the setting often enables the reader to visualize where the story takes place, better understand why characters act in a certain way and in some cases, discern the moral or meaning of the story. Societal setting tends to influence the behavior and feeling of a character and in many cases will allow the reader to foreshadow events later on. It is a tool that allows the author to indulge the reader in a specific frame of mind and one that enriches the story overall. Often the setting is intertwined with the theme – or occasionally is the theme itself. It is an aspect of literature that the reader needs to pay scrupulous attention to in order to understand completely the entirety of a story. Without setting, stories would not have the same effect nor demonstrate the significance between the setting and the main character. In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “Babylon Revisited,” the setting is a critical aspect that is used more than a mere backdrop, but to symbolically

One thing that impacts setting is plot. An example of how plot impacts setting is the location. The evidence that I found in the story, To Build a Fire, by Jack London, to support how the location affects the plot is that it sets the tone. The main character's goal was get to camp to meet up with his "boys". With the weather getting bad and the man not making it to the location it just makes the story. Could you imagine the story taking place at a park, or at the beach? The next piece of evidence would of course be how the blizzard affects the setting of the story. London describes the ground that the man was walking on was a thin sheet of ice with three feet of snow on top of that. This plays an important part because later in the story the man starts walking and doesn't notice that he was actually walking on the frozen lake until he falls through. So with there being a blizzard going on it snowed a lot on the Yukon Mountains. This means you could see the footprints of other traveler but unfortunately those footprints would be gone in an hour.

The setting of a story can hold much more significance than just a time and a location in which the story takes place. Settings in some stories can hold a much deeper meaning and may include elements that are symbolic. For example, upon further examination of “The Lady with the Dog” we realize there are many symbols that the setting offers.