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Importance of setting in literature
Importance of setting in literature
Setting in literature and why its important
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A fiction story’s setting is critical to building the environment of a story around its characters, theme, and credibility. The setting needs to capture the interest of the audience and draw them into the story. The author can choose to have a great amount of detail or little detailing in the setting, depending on what kind of visual cues they want the audience to have in setting up the story. The characters and their behavior can be impacted by a setting, as it was seen in both “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence or in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. These two stories have a contrast in tone, setting, theme, and elements. One writer portrays more background imagery to paint a picture for the audience, while the other writer leaves …show more content…
it up to the audience to figure things out as they read.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence is set in post-war London and chronicles the journey of a boy named Paul’s uncanny ability to choose the winning horse in the popular horse races of his time. We never find out how he possessed these abilities to predict the outcome of the races, but eventually the strain of his predictions became too great for him. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson depicts a small town with a history of choosing an inhabitant to be stoned through the use of the lottery. The setting seems pleasant and unassuming to start, but the vile nature of the lottery is revealed at the end. Both stories depict the importance of setting and theme practices in the story. In “The Lottery” the background story and imagery starts out as light-hearted and similar to what one might think a small town would display on an early summer day in June. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2012, Jackson p. 250) Jackson …show more content…
communicates the airy feel of a summer’s day and then speaks about the townspeople gathering in the square, as they had for many generations, to participate in this annual lottery. An audience may think that this is a pleasant tale that seemingly may occur in any type of countryside around the world. Boys seem to enjoy gathering up the stones in the square and piling them up on the side. Jackson uses diversion tactics to lead the audience to their first pre-conceived notions about the tale. As the story progresses, the mood starts to become more sullen as the names of the lottery are drawn out and there are less people left to participate in. “Nancy next,” Mr. Summers said. Nancy was twelve, and her school friends breathed heavily as she went forward, switching her skirt, and took a slip daintily from the box.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2012, Jackson p. 255) Towards the end, the character named Tessie Hutchison was picked out of the lottery. The stones finally made sense when the horrific climax is revealed. Tessie is to be stoned to death and it is ironic because the townspeople who hadn’t been chosen seemed to not have a problem with the systemic violence that would play out each time the lottery was held. It wasn’t until the person is chosen, that it became unfair. “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2012, Jackson p. 256) Jackson is extremely effective in utilizing distraction, setting, theme and irony in this tale. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Lawrence outlines the time period, setting, and outline of the story up front.
The story is set in Britain during the post-World War era. The family is led by a mother and father who earned little income, but lived as though they were held in high society. “They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood. Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2012, Lawrence p. 235) Lawrence shows a repetitive theme of the family never having enough money. The stress portrayed on the three children proved to be strenuous and the mother seemed to have little regard for the children. “Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2012, Lawrence p. 235) The life events portrayed in this story are displayed in recognizable English settings which allow for the audience to have tangible attachments to the different horse race events. The mood of the story is generally dark and dreary, especially for the mother’s son Paul, whose only wish is to help provide for his family. While he tried to think of ways to earn money, he rode on his toy rocking horse in his room. It ended up entrancing him and he attained a sort of magical power to pick winning horse races, but utterly lead to his death. (Kennedy &
Gioia, 2012, Lawrence p. 245) Lawrence captures the changes in setting from sullen and dreary, to a possible hopeful future with the race winnings, and abruptly climaxes with the boy’s death. Though the setting changed, Lawrence painted a story that could be related to from various mindsets and backgrounds. In these two short stories, both authors give scenarios that are formidable, alluring and believable. The settings they took place in provided a captivating plot line from which the audience member can pull personal experiences, thoughts or dreams through. Lawrence’s strategic baseline story created a wealth of background knowledge to perpetuate the story time period. His story helped the audience to step into the arena and feel as if they were part of the story. Whereas Jackson used distraction and diversionary tactics that left the audience wondering what the ending climax will be. Jackson’s picturesque description of a quaint small town on a beautiful sunny day suddenly turned to dark and cold with a violent twist. While both short stories are different in the theme, timeline and content; they illustrate the importance of how settings can alter the audience’s perception. Both stories were able to display the importance of setting and how it can influence the credibility, atmosphere, and appeal to a story.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two very meaningful and fascinating stories. These stories share similarities in symbols and themes but they do not share the same plot which makes it different from one another. Furthermore, “The lottery” was held in New England village where 300 people were living in that village. This event took place every once a year. Besides, the story begins where on one beautiful morning, everyone in that village gathered to celebrate the lottery. The surroundings were such that children were gathering stones while adults were chatting with each other. It was compulsory for every head of family or house to draw a slip of paper out of the box. In addition to that, the family that draws the slip in the black do will have to re draw in order to see who will win the lottery. Therefore, the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. This is very shocking because in today’s lottery events, the winner will be awarded cash.
“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence are both fictional short stories. Although they are short in length, they do not lack in character. Throughout this paper we will be comparing and contrasting these two amazing but different pieces of literature. The two stories begin with different styles and tones, however they do compare in their tragic ironies. These tragic ironies make for two emotional stories, for the engaged reader.
It all starts with the setting of the story. As Jackson describes “the morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green”. It seems to introduce a joyful, happy tale in a normal quiet village; however, the truth lies ahead when the horrors of the lottery are discovered. The contrast of the setting and what actually takes place in the village, symbolize the fact that looks can be deceiving, and that sometimes, even beautiful things have dark sides.
{It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: “There must be more money!” Yet no body ever said it out aloud. The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no one spoke it. Just as no one ever says: “We are breathing!” in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time.} Pg 236 paragraph 6.
There are 5 Elements of Fiction in The Rocking-Horse Winner. The setting starts off with the mother, who is described as beautiful but shown as having no luck. She has a very handsome husband and 3 beautiful children, a boy and 2 girls. They live in a pleasant home, with a garden and discreet servants. They live in style with little income and felt superior to anyone in their neighborh...
According to The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, the estimated report is that nearly 15 million men, women and children have a problem or pathological addiction to gambling. Problem gambling can be defined in many ways, it can be viewed as a addiction or a behavioral problem that can lead to family and psychosocial problems as well. In the story The Rocking Horse Winner, the topic of gambling addiction is illustrated through the theme of luck, greed and the overall impact of the addiction. From the start of the story, Paul's has a complicated life with a mother who loved money more than her children and in the end, Paul's desire of wanting to feel loved led to his excessive gambling addiction resulted in his death. Nonetheless, in recent studies, it's been shown that there is a direct relationship between society's stance on gambling behavior and the occurrence of family and psychosocial problems.
Not only is the title ironic in “The Lottery” but also the setting and certain characters point of views. Jackson uses a bright day in June, when the sun is shining the weather is warm and the townspeople are out and about as the happy setting of a shockingly, unexpected story.
“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely, and the grass was richly green ” (Jackson, 1948, para. 1). This event symbolizes tainted conduct which prompts passing. The Lottery was yearly occasion where the villager’s names are pull from an old run-down black box. "The Lottery" and the
The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune. In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing things to happen by chance. He believes that the only person that affects what happens to someone, is really that person himself. "Everything is what you make of it," is Lawrence's message to the reader. By his use of characterization, instructional images, and irony in The Rocking Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but things that one must works to achieve.
When one is willing to give up something important or highly valued for the sake of another, it is defined as a sacrifice. Those that willingly sacrifice their own lives for the sake of another, commit the ultimate selfless act. The short stories, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence show two contrasting aspects of the same theme, sacrifice.
“The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H Lawrence, follows the life of young Paul and his endeavors. In this short story Paul gambles on horses in an attempt to be lucky and bring money home to his family. Once Paul’s family become materialistic, and wastes the money his luck begins to kill him. D. H. Lawrence uses the three main symbols, money, the rocking horse and the house to show the mental trauma that wealth has put on Paul’s family.
The setting in the beginning of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, creates a mood of peacefulness and tranquillity. The image portrayed by the author is that of a typical town on a normal summer day. Shirley Jackson uses this setting to foreshadow an ironic ending.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is reminiscent of a fable, albeit a disturbing, shocking one. All the important elements of a fable are present: easy to understand language that could be understood by a child, a moral to the story that represents right from wrong, and a set of imaginary events that lead to a foregone conclusion. The moral of this story, however, is aimed directly at parents: Never live beyond your means and pay more attention to your children. This moral held true in upper-class 1800’s England, and could just as easily hold true in contemporary society today.
The "Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is a short story, in which the author puts a lot of emphasis on the battered relationship between a mother and her child. The battered relationship was not necessarily physical but mostly emotional. The author demonstrates in detail how the mental neglect from ones mother can cause damage and a void to a child. The author's work is known for its analysis of human development and illustrates the nature of emotions within this story. The author demonstrates techniques of the fairy tale short story to describe and explain moralization on the value of love and the dangers of the money. D.H. Lawrence presents an upper class white collar family that is destroyed and segregated by wealth and the effects it had on the family, because they always felt like no matter how much money they had, they always needed more. Then the author tells the reader about the downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual reoccurring and frequent overspending. The author displays the negative effect that money can have and lead to bad luck and lack of love in the upper middle class English life and of modern society causing the corruption of the human society as a whole.
“The Rocking Horse Winner,” written over 8 decades ago by D.H Lawrence, is an intricate and complicated tale about the role wealth plays in one’s happiness. The relationship between the characters, especially between mother and the only son, is heavily affected by money, and its acquisition. Not only do misbeliefs of a grand lifestyle ruin the relationship at the apex of the story, but also so does the fixation. What is most outstanding, however, is the mother’s greed to have more and more money that it became the root of the death of one of her own children.