1. Setting, Mood, Suspense, and Indeterminate Ending
Short Story Notes
Setting, Mood, Suspense,
and Indeterminate Ending

2. Setting (I know this is review, but write it down anyway. Thanks!)
The time and place in which the events of a story, novel, or play occur
The setting often helps create a(n) mood or atmosphere
Setting is not just physical, however; it includes customs, ideas, values, and beliefs of a particular time

3. Mood
The feeling, atmosphere, or emotional quality that an author creates in a literary work; established through setting and descriptive language

4. What’s the mood of this painting?
The Sleeping Gypsy, Henri Rousseau, 1897
Why do you think this? ______________
________________________________

5. What’s the mood of this painting?
The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope, Henri Rousseau, 1905
Why do you think this? _________________
____________________________________

6. Suspense
The growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a work of literature.
To build suspense, an author may use foreshadowing – or clues to what will happen next – as well as a number of other literary devices.

7. Suspense
Think of a suspenseful story that you have seen, heard, or read (books, short stories, movies, etc).
What was the story about?
What made it suspenseful? Give details.
How did the suspense make you (the audience) feel? Explain.

8. Foreshadowing
The author’s use of clues that hint at events that will occur later in the plot; helps build suspense and prepare readers for what’s to come
Hint: The jungle picture we saw earlier foreshadows the setting of the story we’re about to read…

9. Foreshadowing Reread the following passage from the “The Flowers”:
By twelve o’clock, her arms laden with sprigs of her findings, she was a mile or more from home. She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep.
We’ve talked about how the mood changes in this passage before, but how is this passage also foreshadowing what happens next in the story? Explain.

10. Indeterminate Ending
An ending in which no resolution is reached.