Feature Menu Setting The Relevance of Setting Mood Tone Your Turn How Is Setting Relevant to the Meaning of a Text?

Setting provides a background—a time period and place in which the action occurs. Setting

Writers carefully select images and details to create a setting that draws us into the story. sighthearing the steady beat of the drum the tart apple three hot-air balloons colored the sky taste Setting

smell gritty, wet sand between her toes strong, sweet scent of a rose touch Writers carefully select images and details to create a setting that draws us into the story. Setting

Setting is not simply the place where the plot develops. Writers create settings that are relevant, or important, to the meaning of a text. The Relevance of Setting Hong Kong

Sometimes the setting can create a conflict for the story’s characters. The customs, or way of life, that the characters follow also are relevant to the meaning of the story. The Relevance of Setting

Quick Check [End of Section] She looked across the sea of people as she made her way through the crowd. The busy waterfront bustled with families eager to enjoy a day at the coast. Bouncing beach balls and colorful towels dotted the sunny boardwalk. Which words in the passage help you imagine where the scene takes place? Setting

Quick Check Which words in the passage help you imagine where the scene takes place? The boldface words describe what can be seen in this setting. Setting She looked across the sea of people as she made her way through the crowd. The busy waterfront bustled with families eager to enjoy a day at the coast. Bouncing beach balls and colorful towels dotted the sunny boardwalk.

Quick Check [End of Section] Soon-yi stared at the table. Her grandmother had decorated it carefully, taking great delight in the ancient green tea ceremony. In the center of the table sat the steaming pot of tea, surrounded by delicate cups and saucers the color of pale green jade. Everything was unfamiliar, alien to Soon-yi’s sense of what an American meal should be. Setting Which words that describe the setting help illustrate Soon-yi’s internal conflict?

Quick Check Setting The boldface words describe a setting with which Soon-yi feels unfamiliar. Soon-yi stared at the table. Her grandmother had decorated it carefully, taking great delight in the ancient green tea ceremony. In the center of the table sat the steaming pot of tea, surrounded by delicate cups and saucers the color of pale green jade. Everything was unfamiliar, alien to Soon-yi’s sense of what an American meal should be. Which words that describe the setting help illustrate Soon-yi’s internal conflict?

stark balmy foggy Mood is the overall atmosphere or effect of a work of literature. A writer’s word choice and the story’s setting often create mood. Mood

menacing peaceful mysterious What adjectives might you use to describe each of the moods illustrated below? dark, foggy warm breezes ice and snow Mood [End of Section]

Tone is the writer’s attitude about a place or a character. Tone Writers reveal their tone by carefully choosing words that convey how they feel about a setting. The cold stone of the tower seemed to hide frightening secrets. [End of Section]

Quick Check [End of Section] At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe What mood is created by the details of this setting? Mood and Tone What tone does the writer use to describe the setting?

Quick Check At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe What mood is created by the details of this setting? The details create a somber, frightening mood. Mood and Tone

Quick Check At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe What tone does the writer use to describe the setting? The writer uses a calm, matter-of- fact tone that contrasts with the gruesome setting. Mood and Tone

Analyze the relevance of the setting in a story you have read recently. Describe the setting in a sentence or two. Imagine if the story took place in a different setting—your own neighborhood, for example, or a different planet. Record three significant ways in which the story would be affected by the change in setting. Analyze Setting Your Turn Title: ______________________ Setting: ______________________ Alternate Setting: ______________________ Changes to Story: 1. ____________________ 2. ____________________ 3. ____________________ Title: ______________________

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