Comparing the Use of Setting in The Shawl and The Portable Phonograph

In Harold Bell Wright’s novel “The Shepherd of the Hills,” setting plays a tremendous role in creating an effective story line and contribute multiple aspects to enhance the accountability of the story. Setting is one of the most valuable aspects of a successful novel and plays a part in creating a sense of realness to the reader. Winifred Madison, an author of multiple novels, says that “One of the joys of reading is that it takes you somewhere else or, by comparison, makes the place where you live more understandable” (1). “The Shepherd of the Hills” has a setting that the author personally connects to the real-world location. Just as Daniel Howitt was an outsider, Harold Bell Wright visited the Ozarks as a stranger and experienced the

Traumatized Literary devices are what make the story come alive and give the reader a feeling of actually being there. The literary devices increase a reader’s interest in the story and also helps keep the audience engaged. They help create a more fascinating plot. In the short story “Ambush” by TIm O’brien uses them to develop a character so much more. Mr. O’brien used internal conflict, external conflict, and flashback to put the reader in the character’s “shoes” throughout the story.

Many short stories written nowadays are written nowadays in third person to ensure that the audience receives a well-rounded, factual story. The third person POV, however, is extremely broad and can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways by various authors. An astonishing example of the third person variety is a comparison between A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. While Faulkner’s piece demonstrates a mysterious third person POV, O’Brien’s piece takes the third person POV onto an uncommon emotional journey.

Every story has a setting. Whether it is in this world or one that is completely imaginary, the setting of any story is necessary in order to understand the characters. The characters in the following three short stories are shaped by their setting and would not be the same if the setting was different. Over the course of each story it is easy to see how vital the setting is in order for the reader to fully understand the characters and their lives. Therefore, while the reader reads these stories they must analyze how the setting affects the characters, the obstacles that the setting creates, and what it tells us about the characters.

• Do the settings make the stories believable or credible? How does setting impact the plot of the story, and how would the plot be affected if the story took place in another setting?

Setting can affect a characters outcome drastically which directly affects the theme. The Other Wes Moore utilizes the environment to show the dis-advantages that Wes faced in order to get out of the poverty ridden area he was in. “Cherry Hill wasn’t built as a sustainable community for its families… over half of the eight thousand residents lived below the poverty line” (Moore, p.29). This quote shows how the author intended for the reader to use this setting later in the book to compare Wes’s life to what it was back then. In the poem if, the author presented the problem of how doubt holds you back. “If you can trust yourself when all omen doubt you,” (Kipling). This shows how the author brings the reader’s attention to this problem, therefore, making them ponder over it. This provides awareness to the problem and shows the reader how breaking out of this mindset could be beneficial to your success. Both of these texts display a use of setting to cause the reader to, in if’s case, consider the problem, thus making it more aware, and The Other Wes Moore uses it to piece together certain parts of Wes’s Life.

The setting includes place and time. Louise Erdrich’s A Wedge of Shade and A Reptile gives details about different locations and times that collaborate with the characters and stories. The settings describe numerous vivid scenes throughout the story that makes the reader visualize what the protagonists are going through and helps to deliver the desired message. Settings can also be identified as symbols for important ideas. Ideas help transmit the desired message to the reader.

Similarly to all short stories and narratives, a setting plays a significant role. In this case, the context

Kate Chopin and T. Coraghessan Boyle made excellent use of the elements point of view, character, and setting in their short stories “The Storm” and “Greasy Lake”. Kate Chopin’s characters and events follow the setting—the storm. This greatly enhances her work. Boyle’s characters mirror his setting as well—a greasy lake. It is amazing how much greater depth and deeper the insight is for a story when the potentials of elements of writing are fulfilled and utilized.

Imagine sitting in your favorite chair or, favorite spot on the couch when it’s a snowy day outside. You grab a favorite book of yours and begin reading it for the 3rd or 4th time. It’s a book you can’t put down because each time you pick it up, you just cannot put it down until you finish it, just one more sentence, one more paragraph, one more chapter. The text is so enthralling, that you start to envision how the scenes would look in real life. From the seafaring literature of Patrick O’Brian’s “Master and Commander.” The sails of the ship letting down, the seamen’s voices over the crashing of waves or the cannon’s going off during a sea

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

In “The Shawl”, Cynthia Ozick uses vivid details throughout the story to engage the reader. The story portrays the hard times Jews had during the Holocaust in a concentration camp consisting of three main characters: Rosa, Stella, and Magda who are trying to survive the horror of Nazism through a magical shawl. Rosa is the mother of Magda, a fifteen month baby and the aunt of Stella, a fourteen year old girl. The shawl is the only thing keeping them alive throughout the story and at the end it leads them to their death. The author’s use of symbolism is very significant to the story. Cynthia Ozick use of symbolism helps the reader visualize the setting by using symbols to convey different meanings and understand how these symbols characterize the experience of the holocaust survivors.

Swaying trees in the distance, blue skies and birds chirping, all of these are examples of setting. Setting can create the mood and tone of characters in a story. In the story Hills Like White Elephants, the story starts out with our two characters, Jig and the American, also referred to as the man, on a train overlooking mountains. “The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry” (Hemingway). In the case of this short story, the hills provided Jig something to take her mind off of the grueling conversation she was having with the Man. As said by a critic, “the story itself is comprised almost entirely of dialogue. Although there is a situation, there is no plot”

A stories setting is essential part of all writing. In poems, the writer still gives a sense of place. The key part of story telling is a sense of self and where we are. Modern writers are fascinated with comparing rural life verses urban living. Writers know the importance of the two and what both types of living can teach a person.

In our short, one-act play, The Great Escape, we explored the adventures that Marilyn went through after being ejected from the EDS ship. Later in our play, we touched on the elements of setting and suspense. During the play, Marilyn struggles to reunite with her brother despite facing many obstacles. Throughout this play, she encounters an authoritative commander who sees her as a wealth of information for his impending destruction of Earth. An empathetic assistant attempts to guide her throughout the ship in an attempt to spare her life.