Short story: Setting

1. GROUP #3:
SETTING
The elements of setting as found in The
Lady with the Dog and A Very Old Man
with Enormous Wings.
By: Thomas Burton
Douglas Durrington
Nicole Moore
Rachel Simmons

2. WHAT MAKES UP THE SETTING
The elements of setting are:
 Geography
 Time
 Weather
 Mood/Atmosphere
 Social Conditions
 Setting is the where and
when a story takes
place.
 The setting can instill
the reader with emotions
and serve to give insight
into the narrator’s
emotions.
 May also influence the
plot by driving a
character to specific
action.

3. GEOGRAPHY
Geography tells where a story
takes place.
The location of a story is very
important because it gives the
reader a better understanding of
the story.
3

4. GEOGRAPHY: A VERY OLD MAN
WITH ENORMOUS WINGS
The character’s names give
evidence that the location is in a
Spanish speaking country. i.e.
Pelayo and Elisenda.
The story most likely takes place
in Columbia where the author,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from.
The story is near a coast.
“…Pelayo had to cross his
drenched courtyard and throw
them into the sea…”
However, the bulk of the story
takes place in Pelayo’s courtyard. 4

5. GEOGRAPHY: THE LADY WITH
THE DOG
This story takes place
in Yalta (in the
Southern Ukraine),
Moscow, and Russia.
It begins in a seaside
vacation town, then
moves to a lonely cold
town.
5

6. TIME: THE LADY WITH THE
DOG
- Pre- 1900’s. Anna
Sergeyevna came from
Petersburg. Name
changed to Petrograd in
early 1900’s.
-Time of year: Appears
to be late summer into
fall; as the author speaks
of sultry days. When the
story changes to
Moscow, it is winter.
6

7. TIME: A VERY OLD MAN
WITH ENORMOUS WINGS
-After the mid 1800’s,
probably closer to
1910’s. The word,
“ragpicker” came about
around 1843 according
to Merriam Webster.
- Baliffs’ clubs fell out of
favor around the early
1900’s.
-The story also speaks
about airplanes.
Airplanes first came
about in 1903 in North
Carolina. 7

8. WEATHER
In A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings the
story begins with dreary
weather.
“The world had been sad
since Tuesday. Sea and
sky were a single ashgray
thing…” – The writer uses
a mood to describe the
weather.

9. WEATHER (CONT’D.)
In The Lady with the
Dog the weather in
Yalta is described
multiple times as
being sultry which is
hot and humid.
The weather in
Moscow was a
contrast; it was winter
there and snowing.
9

10. SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN “THE MAN
WITH THE ENORMOUS WINGS”
Religion is just starting to grow
 Didn’t know about angels, life after death
Pelayo and Elisenda were poor
 People were paying to see the man
Pelayo and Elisenda got greedy
Angel is suffering for everyone’s entertainment
15 minutes of fame
 Everyone moved on to spider lady

11. SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN “THE LADY
WITH THE DOG”
Moscow is no longer his “home”
 He only feels at home with Anna
He is surprised that he is attracted to her
Forbidden romance
Dmitri is living two lives
 Life with wife: out in the open
 Life with Anna: secretive, exciting

12. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield,
MA: Merriam- Webster, 2004. Print.
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to
Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013.
Print.
WORKS CITED