In most fictional stories, setting seems to be just the background. In school students identify the year and city or area the story takes place in and that’s about all they discuss regarding it. In some stories that can be enough. The story focuses on just the characters and the setting does not play a crucial role to how the story develops. In the cases of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper that is far from the truth. As both of these stories revolve around haunted houses, the setting can be described as the antagonist in the stories. the setting is crucial to both the plot and character development throughout The Haunting of Hill House and Poltergeist. The setting in both Poltergeist and The Haunting of Hill House, the house itself is its own character. Without the characterization of the house and focus on it, the horror aspect would be lacking. Having the house living it its own way alongside the other characters gives it the feeling that it has its own mind and can do whatever it pleases. While both the film and novel create these haunted houses, the characterization of them is alarmingly different. In Poltergeist, the house is just another cookie cutter suburban house. It was recently built, looks like every other house on the block, and at first glance has nothing scary about it. Hill House on the other hand is immediately described as unsettling and worn down. The town the house resides in is “a
The way Roald Dahl presents scary/creepy moments in these stories is the way he uses the words to actually present the scary moments, the order in which he lays out the events, and the way he leaves you at the end.
In the Landlady the order of the events is one reason why it is so creepy. Some text evidence to show that is “all at once his eye was caught… BED AND BREAKFAST”. That piece of evidence shows how the order helps it to be more scary because if that wouldn’t have caught his eye the story wouldn’t be that scary.
The setting is the environment in which a story or event takes place. The setting in a story, can include a specific time and date. Setting in a novel can hook the reader and cause the reader more interested in the portion of the scene. In Unwind by Neal Shusterman, he helps the reader envision the world that the three runaway unwinds experience. By using many different techniques that provide the reader with images in their mind of the world.
When Eleanor first sees the house her reaction is the “house [is] vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely in her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once” (Shirley).
Shirley carefully establishes the setting for her reader as the
The setting shapes the mood and tone of a story and has a great affect on what happens in a story. The setting influences the events that take place, how the characters interact and even how they behave. Settings show where and how the character lives, what they do, and what they value. Characters have a relationship with the setting just as much as they do with other characters in the story. This is seen in the effects the setting has on the development of the Character Elisa in the story “The Chrysanthemums.”
The setting is important because it is usually what creates the conflict and puts the story together. In addition, the setting also creates the mood of the reader. Additionally, the setting is the reason why all the characters act they way they do. The setting in The Outsiders is an old and bad neighborhood which could cause the reader to feel sad for the characters or angry. To conclude, the setting in The Outsiders plays a very important role on creating the characters’ personalities and showing how cautious, and tense
The house is really the only "character" in this story. We sympathize with the house just like we would with a human (or Martian) character, because Bradbury describes it like one: it has a skeleton, skin, and nerves . It even has a personality: it does things "carefully" and has "an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection".
So we relate to the house as if it were a person, but do we like it?
“ The Fall of the House of Usher “ by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about a man named Roderick
Usher who initiates some events such as evoking his friend The Narrator as a protagonist to the
dreadful mansion. The images such as the house and gothic ambience are used to reinforce the
idea of giving the mystery to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic elements to show how they affect
the atmosphere and the characters.
In the beginning , the gothic atmosphere of the house is indicated with terrifying images such as
“ dull, dark and soundless ” that the feeling of horror vaccinated into reader by the thoughts of the
narrator.
Author Joyce Carol Oates ' discovery of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe and Ann Radcliff “sparked her interest in Gothic fiction”. These Gothic elements typically include gruesome or violent incidents, characters in psychological or physical torment, and strong language full of dangerous meanings. Oates herself is citied as saying that "Horror is a fact of life. As a writer, I’m fascinated by all facets of life". “Where is Here?" This story is sort of eerie and tells the tale of a grown-up man who goes back to visit his childhood home.
Setting is the key element in Gothic Literature. It displays the different places and architectures that are essentials to visualize Gothic. The setting is highly significant in a Gothic novel because it helps to add horror and fear to its mood and dreadful weakness to its characters. As said by Snodgrass, the settings of Gothic literary works present an extensional symbolic psychological case to its human characters (158).Gothic fictions are usually set in isolated landscapes or highly secured prisons, secret passages or corridors, old castles or ghostly houses, and graveyards. According to Hogle, Gothic areas might be "a castle, a foreign place, an abbey, a vast prison, a subterranean crypt, a graveyard, a primeval frontier, or island, a large old house or theatre. . .
Psychoanalytical Criticism of Turn of the Screw- The Governess’ Descent Into Madness
When one looks at Freud, they can see that he was primarily concerned with the unconscious, as well as the conscious mind. He sought out the answers to the unconscious motives that drove people then, and still manage to drive us today. In Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”, we see an unnamed governess and those around her act strangely. These predominant questions arise - Did the governess actually see the apparitions of the governess and servant before her?
Setting Analysis: The Most Dangerous Game
Can you imagine reading a story without a setting? Lucky for you, you do not have to imagine because it doesn’t exist. Every story happens somewhere at some time. Therefore, the setting of a story is very important to help with the plot of a story. In order to set a setting, you must add several details to help aid the reader to better comprehend the story.
The setting determines the tone and mood of the story. It also motivates the characters to make the choices that they do. Along with motivating the characters, the setting leads to the overall theme of the story. The setting is the strong foundation that the rest of the story is built upon. Without a setting, there could be no
Within this film by just having a specific setting can make the movie seem more startling. The Shining, is based at a hotel in Oregon in which their winters can receive horrible weather. The setting in which this film is made at, is what makes the story the way it is. The history of the hotel, in which a murder had taken place there makes the location for the film seem more startling. The movie would have less suspense or reason for it to have the plot it does due to the significant location.
Explain why the setting is important to this short story. Would the plot work as well in another setting?
The setting is important to this short story because it sets the mood and tone. Also it helps give the reader a mental picture of where and when the story takes place.
