Cathedral Setting
Is the setting of a story important?
In all stories a good setting is an important thing to have. The setting of a story can have a huge impact on the story. A good setting can make or break most stories as it is sometimes a key story telling point. Take the story “Cathedral” for example it take place in a home in New York City during the 80’s. These details help shape the story and provide the reader with a good idea of what everything may look like. “Cathedral’s setting also gives the reader an idea on how people will act toward each other. Cathedral’s setting also provides readers viewpoints on the people in the story, for example, the wife of the narrator was a woman, so since it was the 80’s there was probably a lot of degrading by other men at her job. Also she probably had to work extra hard at her job than most others.
These non-mentioned details are a great example of why setting can be an important part of the story. The detail make sense of why some things happen the …show more content…
way they did and why the characters are treated the way they are. Without the setting being describe readers would not understand why the characters were treated like in the manner there were in the story.
The setting also explains why the narrator acted like he did. In the story the narrator thought his wife was cheating on him with the blind man. Instead of confronting him, like people would do today, he decided to try and find the truth for himself. It also took place in an area of New York provided a key plot point that without it would ruin the story.
Another example of setting providing a key story element to a story is the Percy Jackson series. The series revolves around children who are related to ancient gods. The setting of this series is present day America.
Since the setting is in America it will probably seem more interesting to readers who live in America. This may also appeal to readers who do not live in America as it may give them an idea of what America is like. Whatever the case the setting has already enticed readers to buy the book. The American setting also helps with the story because it adds wonder to the story. For example, in the series the original home for the gods was on Mount Olympus, but since America is the world power, they moved it to the Empire State Building. This along with the fact that normal people cannot see the gods or monsters add a lure of reality to it.
The setting of the series is not just restricted to one part of America.
Throughout the series they go all over America to complete quests. This also helps the story as very popular spots are important to their quests. For example, at one point in the series the heroes how to go to the Hollywood sigh in order to get the underworld. Another time they had to go Las Vegas in order to get an ancient item they needed in order to get to the underworld. These examples are why setting is important to this series. Without the setting it has, it would have probably not gotten to the level of popularity it has today. Rick Riordan himself visited these locations and looked around their famous landmarks in order to be able to completely and accurately describe these locations so has to help the story. These examples are just another reason why the setting of the story greatly influenced the story itself and made it the series that has kept its fans interested and loving it to this
day.
Another series that relies on its setting for the plot is the Harry Potter series. The setting of the highly acclaimed series takes place in the country of England. The main area the story unfolds however is in a special part of England that only certain people called wizards can reach. The place that it takes places is called Hogwarts.
The time period that the story takes place is around the 1980s. Since the time period is in the 80s, a lot of things may seem out of date compared to what we have in today’s day and age. However, this only adds to the story as the normal things back in the 80s may seem more magical to us now.
Another example of the setting effecting this series is the vehicles and other related objects. For example, in one of the books two of the main characters take a flying car that is out of date by today’s standard but completely relevant at the time. Another would be the phone booths that can be seen all throughout the city.
The castle is also an important setting point that effects the story. The castle at which the children attend school at is magical. It also is surrounded by other magical things, such as a living tree and magical forests. All of these setting points provide key moments in the narrative that hinder or ultimately help the heroes in the magical adventures.
The final and most import setting piece that affects the story is England itself. In the series the wizards hide in plain sight among normal people. In fact, some of their most important settings takes place right next to important places. This setting and how it is used in the narrative is the nearly undeniable reason why this story was able to become as popular and as influential and well-loved as it has become today. The 80s setting may have been chosen because everything may seem for magical, which is a central theme.
Another story that has a setting that has a great impact on the story is the story by Tim O’Brien called The Things They Carried. The story is about a soldier in a war who has letters from a girl he likes. However, in the beginning he thinks she does not like him back.
The setting has an important impact on the story because it drops the main character in a war zone. This alone provides a lot of plot elements because of how much danger the main character is in at all times. It also greatly the characters around the main character too.
Another time the setting influenced the story was when one of the narrator’s friends dies. Since the setting takes place in a war zone, the characters had a higher chance of dying. However, his friend’s death greatly impacted him and completely change his behavior.
Since the setting was in a war zone the main character did thing differently then he normally would. Throughout the story the main character does thing typical in a war zone. However, if the setting was not a war zone and he did these things it would not have made any sense to the context of the story.
The relationship between the main character and his love interest is also affected by the setting. Throughout the story, the main character sees and experiences many things typical of a dangerous war zone. This puts a strain on the relationship he has with her as he eventually burns the letters and photos of the woman.
These examples of the setting effecting the plot show that since the setting was a war zone, a lot of the things that occur in the story would not make sense in any other setting. It also contains other situations that would not occur in any other setting other than the desolate, depressing, war zone setting that the story has contained within its unique pages. The setting also provides hardships not found in normal settings. Although the setting of the story is important to the story, sometimes it as little to no effect on the story. In these cases, the setting is just there to give the characters of the story a place to live. These types of stories are rare but not non existing. An example of a story who’s setting has little to no meaning to the story is “The Fault in Our Stars.” This story takes place in Indianapolis, which has really no influence on the story. Apart from the fact that it is the city the characters live in, the setting does little else to influence the story.
In fact, the only time the setting actually has any effect on the story is when they leave to go somewhere else. Evan then the main characters do not remain there long and are right back to the city. This is a prime example of the rare occasion where the setting is just a backdrop and nothing else.
In conclusion, while the setting of the story may provide key information about how the characters will react to each other, or how the technology is used it sometimes means nothing. Sometimes the setting can be the only reason the book is even able to become good other times it is just there to provide the characters a background.
Regardless of how well the setting effects the story, everyone can agree that a good setting is needed. Without a good setting the story would just seem bland. The characters would seem out of place without a good setting, because they would have nowhere to truly be. So whatever one’s opinion on the effect the setting has on the story is everyone can agree that without a proper and decent setting to go with it, the story of a book can not be the best that it could have been with a good setting.
Work cited.
J.K Rowling. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets New York. 1999
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. London: Puffin, 2006.
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral, 1981
O’Brian, Tim. The Things They Carried.
Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. 2012,
In all stories a good setting is an important thing to have. The setting of a story can have a huge impact on the story. A good setting can make or break most stories as it is sometimes a key story telling point. Take the story “Cathedral” for example it take place in a home in New York City during the 80’s. These details help shape the story and provide the reader with a good idea of what everything may look like. “Cathedral’s setting also gives the reader an idea on how people will act toward each other. Cathedral’s setting also provides readers viewpoints on the people in the story, for example, the wife of the narrator was a woman, so since it was the 80’s there was probably a lot of degrading by other men at her job. Also she probably had to work extra hard at her job than most others.
These non-mentioned details are a great example of why setting can be an important part of the story. The detail make sense of why some things happen the …show more content…
way they did and why the characters are treated the way they are. Without the setting being describe readers would not understand why the characters were treated like in the manner there were in the story.
The setting also explains why the narrator acted like he did. In the story the narrator thought his wife was cheating on him with the blind man. Instead of confronting him, like people would do today, he decided to try and find the truth for himself. It also took place in an area of New York provided a key plot point that without it would ruin the story.
Another example of setting providing a key story element to a story is the Percy Jackson series. The series revolves around children who are related to ancient gods. The setting of this series is present day America.
Since the setting is in America it will probably seem more interesting to readers who live in America. This may also appeal to readers who do not live in America as it may give them an idea of what America is like. Whatever the case the setting has already enticed readers to buy the book. The American setting also helps with the story because it adds wonder to the story. For example, in the series the original home for the gods was on Mount Olympus, but since America is the world power, they moved it to the Empire State Building. This along with the fact that normal people cannot see the gods or monsters add a lure of reality to it.
The setting of the series is not just restricted to one part of America.
Throughout the series they go all over America to complete quests. This also helps the story as very popular spots are important to their quests. For example, at one point in the series the heroes how to go to the Hollywood sigh in order to get the underworld. Another time they had to go Las Vegas in order to get an ancient item they needed in order to get to the underworld. These examples are why setting is important to this series. Without the setting it has, it would have probably not gotten to the level of popularity it has today. Rick Riordan himself visited these locations and looked around their famous landmarks in order to be able to completely and accurately describe these locations so has to help the story. These examples are just another reason why the setting of the story greatly influenced the story itself and made it the series that has kept its fans interested and loving it to this
day.
Another series that relies on its setting for the plot is the Harry Potter series. The setting of the highly acclaimed series takes place in the country of England. The main area the story unfolds however is in a special part of England that only certain people called wizards can reach. The place that it takes places is called Hogwarts.
The time period that the story takes place is around the 1980s. Since the time period is in the 80s, a lot of things may seem out of date compared to what we have in today’s day and age. However, this only adds to the story as the normal things back in the 80s may seem more magical to us now.
Another example of the setting effecting this series is the vehicles and other related objects. For example, in one of the books two of the main characters take a flying car that is out of date by today’s standard but completely relevant at the time. Another would be the phone booths that can be seen all throughout the city.
The castle is also an important setting point that effects the story. The castle at which the children attend school at is magical. It also is surrounded by other magical things, such as a living tree and magical forests. All of these setting points provide key moments in the narrative that hinder or ultimately help the heroes in the magical adventures.
The final and most import setting piece that affects the story is England itself. In the series the wizards hide in plain sight among normal people. In fact, some of their most important settings takes place right next to important places. This setting and how it is used in the narrative is the nearly undeniable reason why this story was able to become as popular and as influential and well-loved as it has become today. The 80s setting may have been chosen because everything may seem for magical, which is a central theme.
Another story that has a setting that has a great impact on the story is the story by Tim O’Brien called The Things They Carried. The story is about a soldier in a war who has letters from a girl he likes. However, in the beginning he thinks she does not like him back.
The setting has an important impact on the story because it drops the main character in a war zone. This alone provides a lot of plot elements because of how much danger the main character is in at all times. It also greatly the characters around the main character too.
Another time the setting influenced the story was when one of the narrator’s friends dies. Since the setting takes place in a war zone, the characters had a higher chance of dying. However, his friend’s death greatly impacted him and completely change his behavior.
Since the setting was in a war zone the main character did thing differently then he normally would. Throughout the story the main character does thing typical in a war zone. However, if the setting was not a war zone and he did these things it would not have made any sense to the context of the story.
The relationship between the main character and his love interest is also affected by the setting. Throughout the story, the main character sees and experiences many things typical of a dangerous war zone. This puts a strain on the relationship he has with her as he eventually burns the letters and photos of the woman.
These examples of the setting effecting the plot show that since the setting was a war zone, a lot of the things that occur in the story would not make sense in any other setting. It also contains other situations that would not occur in any other setting other than the desolate, depressing, war zone setting that the story has contained within its unique pages. The setting also provides hardships not found in normal settings. Although the setting of the story is important to the story, sometimes it as little to no effect on the story. In these cases, the setting is just there to give the characters of the story a place to live. These types of stories are rare but not non existing. An example of a story who’s setting has little to no meaning to the story is “The Fault in Our Stars.” This story takes place in Indianapolis, which has really no influence on the story. Apart from the fact that it is the city the characters live in, the setting does little else to influence the story.
In fact, the only time the setting actually has any effect on the story is when they leave to go somewhere else. Evan then the main characters do not remain there long and are right back to the city. This is a prime example of the rare occasion where the setting is just a backdrop and nothing else.
In conclusion, while the setting of the story may provide key information about how the characters will react to each other, or how the technology is used it sometimes means nothing. Sometimes the setting can be the only reason the book is even able to become good other times it is just there to provide the characters a background.
Regardless of how well the setting effects the story, everyone can agree that a good setting is needed. Without a good setting the story would just seem bland. The characters would seem out of place without a good setting, because they would have nowhere to truly be. So whatever one’s opinion on the effect the setting has on the story is everyone can agree that without a proper and decent setting to go with it, the story of a book can not be the best that it could have been with a good setting.
Work cited.
J.K Rowling. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets New York. 1999
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. London: Puffin, 2006.
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral, 1981
O’Brian, Tim. The Things They Carried.
Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. 2012,