【3.2】 The Function of Setting Setting in fiction is called upon to perform a number of specific functions.Among them are the following. 1.Setting as a background for action Everything happens somewhere.For this reason,if for no other,fiction requires a setting or a background of some kind,even if it only resembles a western stage set. Sometimes this background is extensive and highly developed.In other cases, including many modern stories,setting is so slight that it can be dispersed with in a single sentence or must be inferred altogether from dialogue and action.When we speak of setting as background,then,we have in mind a kind of setting that exists largely for its own sake,without necessary relationship to action and characters,or at best a relationship that is only tangential and slight. 2.Setting as antagonist Often,the forces of nature function as a causal agent or antagonist,helping to establish conflict and to determine the outcome of events.The Yukon wilderness with which Jack London's nameless tenderfoot tries unsuccessfully to contend in his famous story To Build a Fire (cf.P.65)is an example of a setting that functions as antagonist 3.Setting as a means of creating appropriate atmosphere Many authors manipulate their settings as a means of arousing the reader's expectations and establishing an appropriate state of mind for events to come.No author is more adept in this respect than Edgar Allan Poe,who not only provides the details of setting,but tells the reader just how to respond to them. 4.Setting as a means of revealing character very often the way in which a character perceives the setting,and the way he or she reacts to it,will tell the reader more about the character and his or her state of mind than it will about the setting itself.This is particularly true of works in which the author carefully controls the point of view.In My Kinsman,Major Monlineux (cf.P
【3.2】 The Function of Setting Setting in fiction is called upon to perform a number of specific functions. Among them are the following. 1. Setting as a background for action Everything happens somewhere. For this reason, if for no other, fiction requires a setting or a background of some kind, even if it only resembles a western stage set. Sometimes this background is extensive and highly developed. In other cases, including many modern stories, setting is so slight that it can be dispersed with in a single sentence or must be inferred altogether from dialogue and action. When we speak of setting as background, then, we have in mind a kind of setting that exists largely for its own sake, without necessary relationship to action and characters, or at best a relationship that is only tangential and slight. 2. Setting as antagonist Often, the forces of nature function as a causal agent or antagonist, helping to establish conflict and to determine the outcome of events. The Yukon wilderness with which Jack London’s nameless tenderfoot tries unsuccessfully to contend in his famous story To Build a Fire (cf. P. 65) is an example of a setting that functions as antagonist. 3. Setting as a means of creating appropriate atmosphere Many authors manipulate their settings as a means of arousing the reader’s expectations and establishing an appropriate state of mind for events to come. No author is more adept in this respect than Edgar Allan Poe, who not only provides the details of setting, but tells the reader just how to respond to them. 4. Setting as a means of revealing character very often the way in which a character perceives the setting, and the way he or she reacts to it, will tell the reader more about the character and his or her state of mind than it will about the setting itself. This is particularly true of works in which the author carefully controls the point of view. In My Kinsman, Major Monlineux (cf. P
217),for example,there is no indication that the outstandishly attired conspirators, who move easily through the streets of colonial Boston,are confused in the slightest by the city.Ye Robin Molineux,Hawthorne's young protagonist,most certainly is. For Robin,the city is scarcely real;he is almost "ready to believe that a spell was on him".The dark "crooked and narrow"streets seem to lead nowhere,and the disorienting moonlight,so perfect for carrying out of clandestine activities,serves only to make "the forms of distant objects"fade away "with almost ghostly indistinctness,just as his eye appeared to grasp them".The urban landscape perfectly mirrors Robin's growing sense of isolation,loneliness,frustration,and confusion An author can also clarify and reveal character by deliberately making setting a metaphoric or symbolic extension of character.A case in point is found in Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.Poe begins his story with the famous passage that includes a reference to the "barely perceptible fissure"extending the full length of the house"until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn".As the events of the story's plot proceed to make clear,Roderick and his house are both in an advanced state of internal disintegration.Setting and character are one:the house objectifies,and in this way serves to clarify,its master. 5.Setting as a means of reinforcing theme Setting can also be used as a means of reinforcing and clarifying the theme of a novel or short story.In Stephen Crane's The Blue Hotel,the palace hotel standing alone on the prairie,with its light blue color,is pictured as "always screaming and howling in a way that made the dazzling winter landscape of Nebraska seem only a gray swampish hush."The reader subsequently discovers that this setting has direct thematic relevance to Crane's conception of the relationship between man and nature, in which an individual's survival(and,ironically,at times his destruction)depends on a capacity for self-assertion,much in the way that the blue hotel asserts his lonely presence against the stark,inhospitable Nebraska landscape
217), for example, there is no indication that the outstandishly attired conspirators, who move easily through the streets of colonial Boston, are confused in the slightest by the city. Ye Robin Molineux, Hawthorne’s young protagonist, most certainly is. For Robin, the city is scarcely real; he is almost “ready to believe that a spell was on him”. The dark “crooked and narrow” streets seem to lead nowhere, and the disorienting moonlight, so perfect for carrying out of clandestine activities, serves only to make “the forms of distant objects” fade away “with almost ghostly indistinctness, just as his eye appeared to grasp them”. The urban landscape perfectly mirrors Robin’s growing sense of isolation, loneliness, frustration, and confusion. An author can also clarify and reveal character by deliberately making setting a metaphoric or symbolic extension of character. A case in point is found in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe begins his story with the famous passage that includes a reference to the “barely perceptible fissure” extending the full length of the house “until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn”. As the events of the story’s plot proceed to make clear, Roderick and his house are both in an advanced state of internal disintegration. Setting and character are one: the house objectifies, and in this way serves to clarify, its master. 5. Setting as a means of reinforcing theme Setting can also be used as a means of reinforcing and clarifying the theme of a novel or short story. In Stephen Crane’s The Blue Hotel, the palace hotel standing alone on the prairie, with its light blue color, is pictured as “always screaming and howling in a way that made the dazzling winter landscape of Nebraska seem only a gray swampish hush.” The reader subsequently discovers that this setting has direct thematic relevance to Crane’s conception of the relationship between man and nature, in which an individual’s survival (and, ironically, at times his destruction) depends on a capacity for self-assertion, much in the way that the blue hotel asserts his lonely presence against the stark, inhospitable Nebraska landscape
