Langford, Paxton, Sprague, Whiteside

2. G
R
O
U
P
M
E
M
B
E
R
S
~Tess Langford
~Miroslaba Paxton
~Whitney Sprague
~Rebecca Whiteside

3.  Setting is the atmosphere that provides the reader a look of the
narrative.
 The ‘color’ of the story.
 All aspects of setting, whether place or time, serve to further the
story.
~Setting is more than merely where the
story takes place~
 Setting is the when and where of literary works.
 Setting is time: past, present, future, season, year, hour,
minute
 Setting is place: social, economic, cultural environment,
specific geographical location

4. Setting can be both real and imaginary locations, places such as a town
in the deep south of North America or Narnia, which was created by C.S.
Lewis. These places often create the atmosphere of a story, using weather
and other aspects to further flesh out the author’s writing. An exemplary
use of language to establish as atmospheric setting can be seen in Anton
Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog”.
Some authors keep the specific geographical location ambiguous; they
instead make the characteristics of the location the focal point(s). This
can be seen in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story “A Very Old Man with
Enormous Wings”.
A story’s temporal setting can have just as much importance as the
geographical setting. In many cases, specifically in veins of historical
fiction, a story’s plot doesn’t make sense without the historical setting
and accuracy to reinforce it. Also, historical setting greatly influences the
characters of the story, often impacting their behaviors and attitudes.
A.S. Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest” showcases this.

5. “The Lady With The Dog”
Anton Chekhov

6.  Begins in Yalta-Southern Ukraine
 Late nineteenth-century, Beginning stages
of Bolshevik revolution. Tensions were high,
period of unrest.
 A man away from his wife, Dmitri “had
begun to take an interest in new arrivals” as
he noticed the lady with the Pomeranian.
 She, a wife on vacation without her
husband, surrounded by a ‘sultry’ summer,
complete with grasshoppers chirruping.
Dmitri and Anna soon find themselves
enveloped in a deep romance.
Atmospheric setting helped to move this story
along. With the story being is set in a well-
known vacation spot, it allows the mood of our
characters to act differently than they would in
their normal day to day lives. Yalta allows the
characters, for the most part, to be acting
without responsibilities or worries. When
combined, the entire story had to have this
setting: the mood, the weather, the ocean, all
of it critical pieces to the whole puzzle.
• Vivid Language
• Words that paint
romantic setting

7.  The change of seasons and setting act as a
transition in the story. It was Dmitri’s signal to
leave.
“Here at the station was already a scent of
autumn; it was a cold evening. ‘It’s time for me
to go north…”
 Moscow
› Winter
› Dark, dreary
› Cold, lonely
› Closed-in
› Time of reflection
› Consequence and isolation
This setting sets the stage for a sad, lonely
time without his forbidden love.

8. "The Lady with the Dog“
It was early Fall when Gurov was in Yalta. There had been rumors of a young
lady with a dog in town but no one knew who she was. Yalta seemed to be a place of
leisure not a place for business. Well-dressed people took their evening walks by the harbor.
In the evenings you hear the sound of the waves and under the moon you could see the soft
warm lilac hue of the sea. People came and went some people arrive to Yalta by steamer
and others by coach. Gurov describes Yalta as being dull and slow moving that is makes it
unbearable to be there.
Gurov had been curious about "the lady with the dog". That afternoon he made
her acquaintance and was intrigued by Anna's inexperienced youth. It must have been the
beginning of fall when Gurov and Anna began their long affair. During the beginning of
their affair Gurov reminisced about his previous affairs and contemplated that this would be
another one.
Their affair came to an erupt halt when Anna received a letter from her husband
that he was having trouble with his eyes and needed her to come back home. Gurov and
Anna thought that this would be the end of their affair and they would never see each other
again. Unbeknown to Gurov he had become infatuated with Anna at every waking moment
all he thought.
In Conclusion

9. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
Gabriel García Márquez
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.
Except for the crabs.
…And the old geezer falling from the sky.

10. Where are we?
Marquez leads readers to visualize we are in a
Spanish speaking land on the coast.
Our characters live in a
home with a seaside view,
and an obvious crab
infestation.
The characters names are
also a great insight into
where we are!
Pelayo: used in Spanish speaking countries. Is Old Greek meaning: Of the sea.
Elisenda: popular in Spanish speaking countries.
Father Gonzaga: Father referring to Catholicism, Gonzaga is a Spanish surname.
“On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to
cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea…” (356)

11. What Time Is It?
“Others of sterner mind felt that he should be promoted to the rank of five-star
general in order to win all wars.”
*The rank of five star general was not
approved until December 14, 1944.*
“He argued that if wings were not the essential element in determining the
different between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the
recognition of angels.”
*First commercial jet flew May 2, 1952.*
Mood/Atmosphere
Social Conditions• Three days of rain
• Sky ash gray
• “World has been sad since Tuesday…”
•Very Catholic: Mention of the Supreme
Pontiff and Rome, Father Gonzaga, Latin is
considered God’s Language, the navel
question also makes an appearance.

12. "The Very Old Man with the Enormous Wings"
Pelayo and his wife lived on an island near the sea shore. It had been raining for
days that the sea and sky looked of ash gray. Pelayo and his wife had been gathering crabs
from within their home and the court yard and throwing then back to sea. While returning
from throwing the crabs back at sea Pelayo encountered a thing stuck in the mud at the
corner of the court yard. Although, not knowing what to do with the Angel, Pelayo
proceeded to lock him up in the chicken coop. Pelayo and Elisenda benefit from the Angel
injuries financially and their son became healthy again. The patience and passivity that the
Angel had was the only thing that helped him endure the abuse of the on seers.
The Angel had been captive in the chicken coop for five long years, until the rain
came again and destroyed the chicken coop. The Angel started wondering around the
premises and into the house to the point that Pelayo and Elisenda allowed the Angel to stay
in the shed. Until then Pelayo and Elisenda did not realize that the Angel had a slight
fever. This was the first time that Pelayo and Elisenda showed compassion and concern for
the Angel.
The Angel kept himself hidden from everyone. Could it have been that since his
feathers started growing again that he did not want anyone knowing? Was the Angel sent on
a mission to find out if Pelayo and his wife could become good and caring people, was this
why it took too long for his feathers to grow until compassion was bestowed on him? As
the Angel took flight back to where he had come from, this could have been a sign that his
mission had been accomplished.

13. The Thing in the Forest
A.S. Byatt

14. The Blitz
The entire story of “The
Thing in the Forest”, is
dependent upon the setting
of World War II.
Due to the constant and unforgiving air
raids, children were sent from London
to the English countryside for safety.
The children, however, feel a great
sense of abandonment, and this is
evident when the mansion in the
countryside is described…
“There was no lighting, because of the blackout. All the windows were shuttered. . .They had
camp beds (military issue) and gray shoddy blankets.” (304)

15. Post War
After the war ends,
the girls try to regain
a sense of normalcy
in their lives.
Penny becomes a child
psychologist and
Primrose becomes a
story-teller. Neither,
though, can forget the
thing they saw in the
forest.
When Penny and Primrose become
adults, they must face the repercussions
of war, and in turn become examples of
their environment.

16. Byatt, A.S. “The Thing in the Forest.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed.
Spencer Richardson-Jones. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. 302-317.
Print.
Chekhov, Anton. “The Lady with the Dog.” The Norton Introduction to
Literature. Ed. Spencer Richardson-Jones. New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
2013. 251-262. Print.
"Gonzaga Family Name, Coat of Arms, and Name History." 6 September 2013.
HouseOf Names.com. Web. 14 October 2015.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." The Norton
Introduction to Literature. Ed. Spencer Richardson-Jones. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2013. 356-361. Print.
Pushkar, Robert G. "Comet's Tale." June 2002. Smithsonian.com. Web. 14
October 2015.
"U.S Army Five Star Generals." 7 May 2015. U.S Army Center of Military History.
Web. 14 October 2015.