Setting & Plot

Draw

Draw somewhere you love.

​Key Elements of a Literary Text

• Setting

• Plot

• Characterization

• Conflict

• Point of View

• Theme

• Tone

We must have a solid understanding of these foundational elements of fiction in order to understand how they add layers of meaning or style to the text.

Setting

​How do you know what the setting of a story is? Sometimes, a narrator will tell you where and when the story occurs right away. Often, though, you’ll have to look for clues to determine the setting. Try to find words or phrases that tell you what it looks like or sounds like where the characters are. Characters can also give clues about the setting. Be sure that your inferences about the setting are backed up by evidence from the text.

Setting tells you where and when a story occurs. Setting includes two things: time and place. Time includes the time period. It can also include elapsed time, or how much time passes for the characters. The place is where a story happens, including details about what that space looks, sounds or smells like or what it is like to live there.

​ Setting
Setting can symbolize other elements of a story. For example, when setting changes, a character might change. Setting can also symbolize what a character is feeling in a particular scene. Setting can also help us understand the choices that characters make.

Setting can also affect the plot, or the events that make up the story or novel. Some plots can take place only in certain times and places.

In addition to plot and character, setting can shape the mood of a story. A story’s mood is its general atmosphere or overall feeling. The mood of a story can be energetic, nervous, peaceful or many other feeling words.

Setting​

Setting can often be connected to theme. A theme is a universal message of a story or novel. Themes are about big topics, like exploration, freedom, love and loss. Themes can include morals or lessons. So how is setting connected to theme? Certain times and places lead to explorations of certain big topics. If a novel is set during a war, for example, it might have themes about freedom and loyalty.

Open Ended

Write the name of a story where the setting played an important role.

Example: Leave the World Behind (alone in an isolated cabin nowhere near civilization added to the fear & confusion)

Multiple Choice

As Maribelle hurried down the street, the wind swept the snow along the sidewalk and hid her footsteps, so that it looked as if no one had passed. Above her, the cold, silent skyscrapers of the city loomed. The whole block was eerily silent in the snowstorm, and she pulled her coat tightly around her. Maribelle had only moved here a few months before. She came because she wanted to be a singer. But right now, she was frightened.
Which detail from the passage indicate the setting?

• “Above her, the cold, silent skyscrapers of the city loomed.”
  
• “Maribelle had only moved here a few months before.”
  
• “But right now, she was frightened.”
• “She came because she wanted to be a singer.”
  

Multiple Choice

Gilberto had been excited to go to the beach but when he got there and saw how crowded it was, he became annoyed. The sun twinkled in the sky, a warm yellow globe. The sound of the ocean drummed in his ears and the sand itched his ankles and feet. Beside him, his sister slurped loudly on an ice cream cone. “Could you not?” Gilberto asked.

Which detail about the setting tells us that Gilberto is annoyed?

• “The sound of the ocean drummed in his ears and the sand itched his ankles and feet.”
• “The sun twinkled in the sky, a warm yellow globe.”
• “Beside him, his sister slurped loudly on an ice cream cone.”
  
• “Gilberto had been excited to go to the beach...”
  

Multiple Choice

Which option describes a plot that can only take place in a specific setting?

• A selfish child tries to be a better person.
• A young woman falls in love with her family’s enemy.
• A ship’s captain chases a whale across the sea.
  
• A poor, hardworking woman becomes a successful chef.
  

Multiple Choice

Which option is the most likely setting for a story with the conflict “humans vs nature"?

• A nursing home
• A middle school
• A forest
• A lawyer’s office

Multiple Choice

Which description of a setting would best create a mood of loneliness for a story?

• "The sun was bright, and the breeze was warm in the park. In the distance, there was the pleasant noise of children laughing."

• "At the amusement park, the ticket counter hadn't opened yet. It was still too early. But the warm smell of hot dogs and pretzels was already filling the air with the promise of fun."

• "The restaurant was packed. The waitress balanced three dishes on her arm and moved carefully around the large, round tables. Everyone's plates were full."

• "The sky was gray that cool November afternoon in the empty playground. The swings were rusted. The wood was rotted. There was silence except for the wind blowing through the dead leaves."

Plot Elements
Exposition is the beginning of the story in which the setting, main characters, and sometimes the main conflict are introduced.
Inciting incident is an event that introduces or highlights the main conflict and leads to the rising action.
Rising action is the story's beginning and middle where events build toward the climax, and the main conflict often worsens..
Climax is the moment (usually between the middle and end) of the story where the main conflict begins to be addressed.
Falling action is the beginning of the story's end when the consequences of the climax take place and move toward the resolution.
Resolution is the end of the story in which the reader or audience knows the main conflict has been resolved—or not resolved.

Match

Match the following plot elements with their descriptions.

• Exposition

• Rising Action

• Climax

• Falling Action

• Resolution

Introduction of characters and setting

Development of the conflict

Turning point of the story

Consequences of the climax

Conclusion of the story

• Introduction of characters and setting

• Development of the conflict

• Turning point of the story

• Consequences of the climax

• Conclusion of the story

​Work Period

​1. Please open Actively Learn and complete Student Guide: How to Identify Elements of Plot
2. Please visit Exact Path and complete the Literary Elements assignment.
4. A new trophy needs to be earned by 10/26!