Questions About Setting 

1. Where does this story happen? 

a. In what country or region does the story happen? 

b. Does the story happen in the country or the city? 

c. Does the story happen in one spot, or does the action unfold across a wide area? 

d. What is the mood or atmosphere of the place where the story happens? Is it cheerful and sunny, or dark and bleak? What words, phrases, or descriptions does the author use to create this atmosphere? 

e. What is the weather like in the story? 

f. Do you long to climb into the pages of the book to live in its world, or does it repel you? Why? g. Is the setting a real or imaginary place? If it is imaginary, is it subject to the same physical laws as our world? 

h. Among what kinds of people is the story set? What is their economic class? How do they live? Are they hopeful? Downtrodden? Depressed? Why? i. Is there anything symbolic or allegorical about the place where the story happens? 

j. Is the setting of the story important because of historical events which may have taken place there? How does this help you understand the themes of the story? 

2. When does this story happen? 

a. On what day does the story happen? What time of day? 

b. How long a period of time does the story cover? A few minutes? A single day? A whole lifetime? 

c. In what season does the story take place? 

d. Does the story happen in a particular year, era, or age of the world? What historical events may have just preceded the period of the story? Do these events help explain the actions of characters, the action of the story, or its mood? (For example, is the story set in the midst of the Industrial Revolution in England like some of Charles Dickens’ works, or is it set in the Roaring Twenties in America like Fitzgerald’s work?) 

e. In what time of life for the main characters do the events occur? Are they children? Are they just passing into adulthood? Are they already grown up? How does setting the story in this particular time of the characters’ lives affect the story? 

f. In what intellectual period is the story set? What ideas were prevalent during this period? Does the author deal with these ideas through his characters? Do the characters respond to social rules and customs that are the result of these ideas? (Jane Austen’s books, for example, were set in the early nineteenth century in England, when women were bound by social laws forbidding them from owning or inheriting property. Consequently, marriage to men of property was their only source of financial security. Without this knowledge, the dialogue in Pride and Prejudice and the action of Emma are unintelligible to the modern reader.)