VOCAB QUIZ!  You have five minutes to look over you vocab words and then we’re taking a quiz.  You have ten minutes for the quiz.

SETTING!

WHAT IS SETTING?  In literature, the word ‘setting’ is used to identify and establish the time, place and mood of the events of the story. It basically helps in establishing where and when and under what circumstances the story is taking place.

HOW DOES SETTING AFFECT A STORY?

SETTING & MOOD  Settings are not only used to reinforce your characters, they can also enhance the different moods in your writing. A mood describes the emotional quality of something, whether it is a song, a painting or, in this case, a scene in your novel. It might help to think of mood as the way you want someone to feel while reading your novel.

EXAMPLE FROM TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD  Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop... [s]omehow it was hotter then... bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.... There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.

WHAT IS IMAGERY & WHY DOES AN AUTHOR USE IT?  Sensory details are when you use descriptions and adjectives that appeal to the five senses.  They are important in writing because they bring a story to life for a reader. It helps the reader become “engaged” or interested in the story.  Sensory details help the reader imagine the setting and characters and help the reader feel the action of the plot.  Also… if a writer is using a lot of sensory details and “imagery” it means they want you to pay attention to that element of the story. They’re drawing attention to what is happening.

SETTING & CHARACTER EXAMPLES (SIGHT) Sight images are the most common. They describe what things look like. Notice how these examples draw the reader’s attention to the character and setting being described.  “The moon was full, lavish and silvery, and the sky was inky black, with a million stars overhead. The inside of the little cabin seemed to hug itself around her, all cozy blackness, except for the glow of the lights on the instrument panel. She could see the landscape below spread like another world, monochrome, shades of charcoal bathed in the blue silver light of the full moon.”  “A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.” (p. 46)

BUT IMAGERY ISN’T ALWAYS JUST SIGHT… LOOK AT THESE EXAMPLES…  Gummy Bears as Described Through the Five Senses  Sight: Walking through the candy aisle of Safeway I catch a glimpse of a clear shiny plastic bag with a rainbow of colors burning a hole through. “What is it?” I ask myself. At that very moment I spot the child like face of the Gummy Bear leader. His smiling face betrays the fact that he knows a tragic and gruesome decapitation awaits him, followed closely by a reuniting of his head with a body of one of his different colored brethren. Like a Frankenstein monster. Sound: Ripping open the bag causes a resonance like a large cop bending over to grab the last crumb of his doughnut and splitting open his trousers. The sound of chewing the Gummy Bear brings to mind the sloppy noise of a horse tromping through a mud hole. Tearing his tiny face from his little bear body I can hear a tendon snap. Smell: After the familiar ripping sound of the bag my olfactory system is bombarded with the sickly sweet smell of fruit trees in blossom. One smell, however, rises above the rest. That aroma is similar to a freshly peeled lemon. Touch: Touching a Gummy Bear is something you don’t easily forget. The sticky smooth texture is like an overheated ball of wax, or with a little stretch of the imagination, a steamy bathroom mirror. Taste: The most dramatic sense that a Gummy Bear stimulates is taste. The super-sweet, fresh fruit flavor practically explodes my tongue. And this might sound weird, but I can taste the Gummy part, it is like flavorless gum, or like eating Jell-o when you have a cold. Eating them as a teenager I can taste the fun and adventure of childhood Gummy Bear wars between the warm and cool colored bear armies, and I need the flavor to remind me.

TODAY’S READING REFLECTION  Choose two quotes that describe the setting of your book. Explain what role the setting plays in your novel.  Find two examples of imagery in your book. Make sure you analyze the effect the imagery has on the reader. Think about why the author chose to draw such attention to what is being described.