1. Quick Write
Describe your favorite place in the whole world. Why do you like it so much? What’s your mood like when you are there? *Give me at least 5 sentences!

2. Setting and Mood

3. Objective Today, students will be able to:
recognize setting and mood in art; and
determine how the details of the setting and mood foreshadow future events.

4. What is Setting? What is Mood?
Definition of Setting
A story’s setting is the time period and place in which the action of the story takes place.
Setting establishes the main backdrop and mood for a story.
Definition of Mood
A story’s mood, or atmosphere, affects the way we feel as we read.
Mood is created by an author’s word choice and by details of setting.

5. Considerations of Setting
Time
Time of day—morning or evening?
Day of the week—Tuesday or Saturday?
Month—December or June?
Year—1492 or 2011?
Geographical Location
Baltimore? Japan? Nigeria?
Spatial Location
An abandoned building? A train station? The grocery store?
Weather
Freezing rain? A hurricane? Scorching heat?
Historical Context and Customs
Colonial America? World War II? Civil Rights Movement?

6. Determining Mood at a haunted house at a funeral at a party
A story’s mood is determined by the type of setting in which the story occurs. Below are a few examples of settings and possible moods they might convey:
at a haunted house
spooky, scary
at a funeral
mournful, sorrowful
at a party
celebratory, happy

7. Determining Mood at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015
Now you try! Describe the mood for the following:
at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015
on the Titanic just after it struck the iceberg
in Memphis the night Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated

8. Alexandre Antigna’s The Fire (France, 1851)

9. How can you recognize setting and mood in art?

10. Identify the subject of the painting
Identify the subject of the painting. An artist centers a painting around a focal point, or the most dramatic point of interest.

11. How does Antigna portray the setting in this painting
How does Antigna portray the setting in this painting? Support your answer with details from the scene.

12. Evaluate the importance of setting in the painting
Evaluate the importance of setting in the painting. Is the setting simply part of the background, or does it take on a more dominant role?

13. Notice the flames outside the door
Notice the flames outside the door. What mood does this setting detail convey?

14. Notice that the children are with their mother and not their father
Notice that the children are with their mother and not their father. How does this detail contribute to the mood of the painting and foreshadow future events? Explain.

15. Intro to “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

16. The Lottery This is Jackson’s most famous short story.
Its initial publication in was extremely controversial.
Jackson’s response to the widespread criticism was simple: “It’s just a story.”

17. Exit Ticket
What are the different parts that make up a story’s setting?
What is mood? List some potential words that could describe a story’s mood.