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In what ways can the setting contribute to a story's meaning?
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The setting in a story significantly contributes to its meaning by establishing genre expectations, enhancing realism, and symbolizing thematic elements. For instance, Gothic literature uses dark, foreboding settings to signal supernatural events, while detailed settings like those in Middlemarch create realism. Additionally, settings can symbolize ideas, such as the insular nature of Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird, or prompt suspension of disbelief, as seen in the magical Athenian forest of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
One way setting can function is to communicate the genre a work of literature is in, which helps to cue us as to what to expect. For example, Gothic literature almost always uses some of the following: dark, foreboding, creepy settings; haunted houses; night and cold; and old castles or deserted landscapes. All of these create a sense of unease. Once we orient ourselves to the setting of a Gothic novel, we know that we can't expect happy endings and that we can anticipate supernatural events.
Setting can also build a sense of realism. The more "granular" or detailed a setting, the more convincing a story will be. George Eliot, for example, is famous for creating settings in novels like Middlemarch that encompass the life of an entire community. Conversely, a lack of a distinct or well-articulated setting can work to disorient us, as can happen in Kafka's works.
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that encompass the life of an entire community. Conversely, a lack of a distinct or well-articulated setting can work to disorient us, as can happen in Kafka's works.
Setting can also function to convey the pathetic fallacy, in which the outward surroundings of a story communicate its tone or mood. For example, the lonely, icy, and unpleasant world Jane Eyre inhabits in the Reed household at the beginning of Jane Eyre is conveyed through the rainy, windy weather outdoors and the book she looks at alone in the library, which is about the Arctic.
The setting of a story is most often used to symbolize a particular idea that the writer wishes for us to have of the place and the people residing within it.
For example, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee Harper's description of Maycomb is meant to symbolize the parochial and insular nature of the town and with it, the people who live in it. It contributes to the meaning of the story because it explains in part why the people in Maycomb had the pejudices they did and why they reacted in set ways to events that transpire in the novel.
Similarly, in A Midsummer Night's Dream for example, the setting of the play in the Athenian forest is significant in signalling to the audience that they were to further suspend their beliefs about reality and accept that fantastical events could take place in such a magical setting.