The Importance of Setting
Setting is a literary element found in every piece of literature, though its importance varies depending on the story. Setting has three main components: TIME, PLACE, and SOCIAL CONDITIONS. The author may not explicitly describe each part, requiring the reader to make inferences about these elements, but they work together to create a world in which the narrative (setting, characters, conflict, plot, solution/resolution) exists. The setting might be based on a real time and place or completely imagined by the author.
"Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else...” – Eudora Welty (American author of short stories and novels about the South)
