To Build A Fire By John Updike Setting Analysis

The impact of setting in fiction can either ground the audience into the story or be used a helping detail to bring life to the plot.Time can also be used to increase tension or create new sources of conflict. There can be backdrop settings like seen in John Updike’s “A&P.” This story’s setting was placed in a convenience store and revolved around girls walking the aisles around and around while the cashier, Sammy thought about them. Updike used many details about how Sammy thinks, and that the reader can either call Sammy an idiot or cheer him on. Updike writes a brief sentence that says “house slaves in pin curlers...” who looked at the girls and were shocked at what the girls were wearing. The time period of this story can also be found through this sentence and this was a conservative time and women are only housewives. The setting showed that this town had the stereotypical families and only men worked.

The author, Jack London, really emphasizes how cold it really is many times throughout the story and it is sometimes followed by how the man was not worried about the cold. The whole story is very grim and dark, just like the setting. There hasn’t been sun for a long time now and the temperature is always dropping. The dog is the one who can sense that the environment around him is not safe, but the man and dog do not have a good bond to be able to communicate. In some tales, the force of nature wants respect and reeks havoc on people that think they are better. The man is a arrogant owner, he doesn 't respect his dog or respect the cold outside because he thinks he knows better, so if a way he gets what’s coming to him. The fear of the unknown is also a very strong idea that if used, can make the reader nervous without them thinking they 're walking into a trap. The fear of being trapped in snow without fire helps readers feel pity for the