Setting and its Impact on Characters

Read the following passage from Alice in Wonderland:

Once in the wood, she was anxious to get back to her right size again, and then to get into that lovely garden. But how? Peeping over a mushroom, she beheld a large blue caterpillar sitting on the top with its arms folded...

Which detail from the text provides a clue to the place where this passage takes place?

• “Once in the wood…"

• “A large blue caterpillar..”

• “...get back to her right size again...”

• “...with its arms folded”

Read the following passage:

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.”

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.

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.
  

The setting can affect a character's mood in a story.

• True

• False

What are character traits?

• the struggles in the plot of a story

• descriptive adjectives that tell you what a character is like

• all of the events that happen in a story

• the places where a story happens

What can you use to figure out what a character's traits are? Choose all that apply.

• what the character says

• what the character thinks

• what the character looks like

• the way the character is named

A character, Nikki, is friendly. The author shows this by having Nikki sit down at a lunch table with a group of kids she doesn't know and introduce herself. What is the author using to show Nikki's trait?

• Nikki's thoughts

• Nikki's feelings

• Nikki's actions

• Other people's reactions to Nikki

A character, Carson, looks up to his older sister. His sister had an art show coming up. The week before the show, she told Carson not to go into her room and peek at her project. Carson followed her rules and didn't try to go in. "I hope it's a painting of me!" thought Carson. What evidence can you use to support the fact that Carson is respectful?

• Carson's sister had an art show coming up

• Carson's sister told him not to peek at her project

• Carson followed his sister's rules and didn't go in her room

• Carson hoped the art project was a painting of him

Setting can give us clues about a story's...

Choose all that apply.

• mood

• plot

• conflict

• length

Which of the following might describe the setting of a story?

• a frog and a witch

• happy and loving

• a high school in 1956

• love is stronger than fear