MODULE 2:

SETTING
English 238: Introduction to Fiction
Daniel Froid
Overview of Module 2

■ In this module, you will learn about another element of fiction:

Another basic question for approaching a work of fiction: Where does it take place?
■ The setting is the time and place in which the events of a work of fiction occur.
Individual episodes within a larger work may have separate, specific settings. Homer’s
The Odyssey is set in ancient Greece, but various adventures take place on Odysseus’s
native island of Ithaca, the home of the gods on Mount Olympus, and so on. The events
of the Star Wars films take place in a galaxy far far away, but individual events occur on
a number of fictional planets.
– Time may be a historical period, time of year, and/or time of day or night. The time
setting may also shift as the narrative proceeds. Some narratives follow the
protagonist over years or decades, while others are restricted to more or less the
same time frame (a timespan of a few weeks).
– Place may be a geographical location, a particular city, or something even more
specific like a cave, a room, or a boat.
Setting

Often the setting provides important clues about the context of a work of fiction and vice versa.
The Tale of Genji is an enormous Japanese novel written in the eleventh century, which describes
more or less contemporary events among high-ranking members of the nobility, their friends, their
lovers, etc. It’s impossible to understand the work without understanding something about what
life was like at court in Japan in that specific period.
The setting is also essential to establishing the atmosphere of a story. The setting can be so
important to some works that it almost feels like a character in itself. The TV series Twin Peaks
takes place in a quirky, eerie small town of the same name in the Pacific Northwest. The nearby
dark woods, the markers of small-town life such as the local diner, and the town’s relative isolation
all contribute to the atmosphere of the series—its unique combination of horror/dread and humor
—such that the town of Twin Peaks feels like a recognizable entity as much as the characters do.
When considering the setting of a work of fiction, it’s important to consider not just the precise
location where events take place, and the context that might help you understand the setting better,
but also how the setting contributes to other effects in the story.
Questions to Ask

■ Where is the setting? Are you able to identify the city/state/country/planet in which the
events take place?
■ How do characters describe the setting, or how do they feel about it? What clues does
the narrator provide to what the setting is like?
■ What atmosphere does the setting evoke? (Is it a comfortable place? Is it scary?) How
do you know? And is that perception trustworthy? Is it shared by every character?
■ Are there any important context clues about the setting that you believe are important to
understanding the text?
 PART 2:
APPLICATION
Setting in Annihilation

Setting is everything in Annihilation. Early on, we learn that Area X is abundant with flora
and fauna: “The richness of Area X’s biosphere was reflected in the wealth of birdlife” (30).
But we also learn that Area X is seriously weird. The team investigates the tower, in which
the biologist examines strange letters that “would have looked to the layperson like rich
green fernlike moss but in fact was probably a type of fungi or other eukaryotic organism”
(24).
We also learn that Area X has changed over time: “the first expedition reported nothing
unusual in Area X, just pristine, empty wilderness” (55). And it has strange effects on
bodies: notice what happens to the corpse of the anthropologist, which has a “faint golden
glow” (51) along with other odd deformities. What are some additional details we learn
about the setting of the novel?
Setting in Annihilation

Area X is weird, but it is also shrouded in confusion and mystery. As the biologist points
out, “When Area X first appeared, there was vagueness and confusion, and it is still true
that out in the world not many people know that it exists. The government’s version of
events emphasized a localized environmental catastrophe stemming from experimental
military research” (94). She then describes how Area X has fueled speculation and even
conspiracy theories. The word choice here suggests some implications: if not many people
know it exists, information may have been suppressed. Also, the biologist refers to the
government’s version of events, which suggests a deliberate narrative rather than a factual
account. The biologist emphasizes how responses to Area X are grounded in subjectivity
and personal motivation (hers, as we discussed in Module 1, but also the government’s).
Thus misinformation and conspiracy are crucial to how the setting develops.
Consider how VanderMeer uses techniques related to the novel’s point-of-view to describe
the setting. What would a description of Area X sound like from the perspective of the
psychologist? Or from an omniscient perspective? How would this change the novel?
Setting in Annihilation

As the novel continues, the biologist contemplates what she has been told about Area X in contrast to
what she herself has learned: “I had to quarantine the lies and obfuscations of my superiors from data
that pertained to the actual eccentricities of Area X. For example, the secret knowledge that there had
been a proto-Area X. . . . I did not think that the highest number of expeditions told me much more
about the Tower and its effects” (158).
It is almost like there are multiple Areas X (so to speak): There is the actual place, full of bizarre
phenomena. But there is also the Area X constructed out of many layers of hearsay, lies, conspiracies,
and so on.
Yet the biologist herself tells her own stories about Area X. Toward the end of the novel, after she
recognizes the face of the lighthouse-keeper in the Crawler, she “began to form a narrative” about his
life (190). In addition, she speculates about how Area X works: “Imagine, too, that while the Tower
makes and remakes the world inside the border, it also slowly sends its emissaries across that border in
ever greater numbers, so that in tangled gardens and fallow fields its envoys begin their work” (192).
What effect does this have on you, as the reader? How do you piece together these many different
narratives about what Area X is and what it does? What does VanderMeer’s presentation of the novel’s
setting make you think about how knowledge and truth are constructed?
Homework

You have a discussion board post due on Thursday by 5:00 pm, and your response posts
will be due on Saturday by noon.
The content of your discussion board post should be different from what you write about in
the journal. You may want to tackle a different element of fiction (e.g. POV in the journal,
setting in the post), but make sure you look at a variety of passages from across the entire
text.
Again, assignment sheets for all of these assignments can be found on Brightspace.