Setting

It is the experience of many readers that the most memorable things about a novel are the scenes. The scenes take place in various places, locations which are usually called settings.

This term is used to cover:
- the places in which characters appear (interior vs exterior);
- the social context of characters, such as their families, friends and class;
- the particular locations of events;
- the atmosphere, mood and feel that all the above elements create.

But settings are not just enjoyable in themselves (an immense landscape). They often have a striking significance for all the elements of the novel. Setting can:
- reflect the mood of characters in that they can become mental landscapes;
- reveal the situation of a character and, by working symbolically, they can express personality;
- reveal something about the author’s view;
- be so powerful and vivid that they take on a life of their own and thus create a distinctive world.

Very often authors make the landscape and the season appropriate to the mood of their characters (mental landscapes). Some authors express their viewpoint by creating landscapes, townscapes, interiors of the houses and the weather. W. Faulkner’s works are an example. Not only many of his novels establish a similar atmosphere through their settings, but this atmosphere reveals how he views the world. For W.Faulkner the world is a corrupt, seedy and oppressive place, hence his novels are full of rotting houses, dirty towns, lifeless landscapes and grimy interiors.