"What is a Setting?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

[@SWLF]

This video now includes Spanish as well as English subtitles. For a full list of dual-language videos in our series, please see the following site: liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/oregon-state-guide-english-literary-terms

[@Khatoon170]

Setting definition refers to time , place , circumstances occurs or develops , setting paying attention to details narrator provides . There are four types of settings physical, social , historical, psychological. Elements of setting time , place , mood , social cultural context . For example outer space , someone house , moving vehicle. Thank you for your wonderful educational literary channel.

[@SWLF]

Nice work here, Khatoon! But could you give us a sense of what a "psychological" setting is?

[@SWLF]

If you liked this video, let us know by dropping us a comment, asking a question, or sharing your favorite examples of how setting influences your understanding of the themes or worldviews of your favorite stories. You could also share some instances of how setting shapes your understanding of Sarah Orne Jewett's "The White Heron" that you discovered but were not covered in the lesson. Doing so will help to establish this comment section as a rich digital learning environment. Thanks for reading, everybody!

[@druantiajane]

Thank you for this educational video. I’m really pleased you’re producing again. Your descriptions make the technical aspects of literature easier to understand. As a reader, it’s so easy to overlook Realism as real life. As an online literature student who sometimes needs more tuition than my set books offer, you explain the devices fully and in a language that’s accessible so it’s easier to retain. You offer an invaluable resource. Thanks again 🤩

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much for your kind words, druantiajane. We're so happy to hear that the series has been useful to you!

[@xboxjohn9722]

This is a great video!! I’m glad to see that this channel is back!

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, John! We're happy to be back. Our schedule may not be as regular as it has been in recent months, but we are getting our lineup together, and we hope to have a few more out quite soon.

[@germancalderon2943]

Thank you! It will help me a lot in order to do an assignment

[@SWLF]

Awesome! We're happy you found it useful, German, and we hope you enjoy the others in our series as well!

[@muneerasabry2204]

Your description is amazing

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Muneera! We hope you enjoy the other videos in the series as well!

[@bielacrack8581]

Estoy en semana de exámenes y esto me ayudo un monton, muchas gracias, estoy seguro que gracias a tu explicación voy a poder pasar.

[@SWLF]

¡Gracias por tus comentarios y te deseo buena suerte en los exámenes!

[@lahsaynaj1894]

I'm sorry but I was focusing on standing posture more then the lctr 😭

[@pieter9328]

Oh, you are back! I am glad, I missed your video's, guys! So, a setting is a confluence of time and place, eh? Makes sense for an artist to be attent on that, since we ourselves are formed for good and for ill by the times and places we live in. I do have a question, but it is really specific, so I don't mind if you don't know an answer: No story is without a setting, even a blank void is a setting as you pointed out, so the difference is the attention placed on it, I assume. So I wonder if you know stories where the setting, through the artist's thoughtlessness, ran counter to the theme of the work? Or is such a thing not possible? As for an example: I am right now reading Butler's The parable of the sower, (still haven't finished it) and in the glimpses she gives of the protagonist's surrounding (walls with barbed wire, shacks decaying outside of the neighbourhood wall, the city's lights no longer shining) convey a civilizational fall happening which is pressing on the protagonist to leave her guarded street and try to stim the tide somehow, while most of the others prefer to hold on behind the wall. But the best example of setting used I have seen is Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, so much is conveyed by the landscape's descriptions as Frodo and Sam trek through Middle-Earth towards Mordor. And the closer they come towards Sauron's seat of power, the more the landscape suffers his influence and foreshadows the damage a victorious Sauron would do to the whole of Middle-Earth.

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much for your continued support, Pieter! As to your question, we can't think of a story in which the author positions setting and theme counter to one another, but we can think of MANY examples of stories in which setting delivers theme ironically. One such story is Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," which is discussed in the "What is Imagery?" video. For a more recent example, check out Mona Awad's interesting story about the pandemic "A Blue Sky Like This." In that story, it is the narrator rather than the author whose attitude stands in stark contrast to her setting. Thanks again for continuing the conversation! It is good to be back!

[@ranasaint]

Thanks.

[@SWLF]

You're very welcome, @ranasaint !

[@hemalakshmi4250]

Good example sir, I liked it 👍😀👌

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Hema! You need to get some kind of prize for all the videos you've watched from our channel!

[@hemalakshmi4250]

@@SWLF Wow Great 😇 Let us see... You are all already helping me in a beautiful journey, that was a superb gift already. I'm watching minimum 5 videos a week, let me complete the Playlist then let me ask some more topics which are not covered here, just explain them! That will be a great gift 🎁 😊

[@SWLF]

@@hemalakshmi4250 Nice! We can certainly do that!

[@hemalakshmi4250]

@@SWLF Thank you 😊

[@georgerichards6629]

Defining setting as place and time is a bit problematic for me. Let me give you an example. In the film Coma (1978), the hospital where the events take place is a hospital where they steal patients' organs without them being aware of it. When does "setting" become plot or character? The hospital mentioned is more than just a place. It is infused with character and culture. When they define the term "world-building" they normally include culture, but culture in terms of world-building means the way of living and thinking of all the individuals within a fictional race. How about the evil culture at the hospital mentioned above? Is this setting? Is this character? Is this plot? What exactly is setting and what is it not? When does plot or story become background or setting?

[@SWLF]

Great question, George. We're not familiar with Coma, but setting can certainly play a dominant role in a plot, shaping events and characters' worldviews in a manner illustrated in "The White Heron" example. More recently, setting has taken on some qualities of a literary character in "climate fiction," which takes up the idea that geological time and the time of a human lifespan are now moving at the same pace, meaning that a setting can change or develop in the same manner than a character can change or develop. Just because setting is, strictly speaking, a time and a place doesn't mean that it is functionally separate from these other elements of a story. Time and place ALWAYS affect a person's actions and the events of a given narrative. Thanks for keeping the conversation going!

[@marwanalshater665]

Awesome.. 👏🙏♥️🌼

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Marwan! It is good to be back for more lit terms videos in 2021. Here's to a better year for the world!

[@OverClockedMadness]

29 comments? Hi, Mr Mayo's class!

[@SWLF]

Hi, Mr. Mayo's class! Thanks so much for stopping by!

[@hweiktomeyto]

1769. Nice.

[@JerryDodo]

👌👌👌👌👌👌👍👍👍👍👍👍😅

[@SWLF]

Thanks, Jerry! We hope that means you liked the lesson!