Setting and Theme: Master Key Concepts in English | Complete English Course

all right guys hello and welcome to another lesson in your listening and reading comprehension course today we are going to be talking about setting and theme incredibly important for being able to comprehend fiction so let's get into it we're going to do a review quiz of the last lesson and you can pause this here and we will talk about the answers when you come back okay so the protagonist is the bad guy true or false this is false the antagonist is the bad guy two most modern short stories use anti-heroes true or false this is true we really like a good anti-hero in modern fiction in terms of American society anyway American culture number three the process of creating characters is called characterization number four a round character does not change true or false false a round character does change a flat character does not just think of you can picture 3D versus 2D a foil character can change in thrat stories true or false this one is false a foil character will probably not change in short stories remember the goal of a foil character is to uh reflect to complement or to contrast the main character's qualities how however if the main character is changing the protagonist is changing honestly in a short story there may be no foil character it may not be long enough or have enough room because a short story should have a few characters but if there is a foil character then it is likely not to change because there's again not enough room to share that attention with another character so keep in mind that in short stories foil characters are likely going to be flat characters if they exist at all in the story all right let's move on and to setting and theme so here's your definitions here setting is the time and local of a story or the context of a story remember we've talked about context several times before it's going to be your intended audience it's going to be the time and place and description of the place around and all of these things here so there are four types of setting we're going to get into those next where and when a story happens a story can have more than one setting whether it changes settings maybe they go into a house from outside or maybe it's different times within the life of one person normally a short story will stick to one or two settings it's not going to get into many many settings because it's too short for that and the point is to be short and to the point with a short story correct so setting can also act as a non-human character in the story almost almost sometimes what is driving the character the main character to change are are situations within the setting maybe it's the atmosphere maybe it is the war that's happening maybe it's the time period is changing it's the politics or whatever something in the setting could be the antagonist to the protagonist or it could be motivating and causing changes to happen setting could also potentially act as a foil com like complimenting or contrasting the main character's uh disposition but there's a lot of experimentation to be had there we're going to keep it simple and just work on identifying the different types of setting in this lesson the second definition you need to know is the subject or topic of something themes are Universal they're not clearly stated every story has a theme and you have to use implicit comprehension to get to it readers May understand different themes in the same story so it is not surprising that whenever I taught short stories before many many many students have different ideas on what the story is about so that's totally fine that is okay and that's part of the beauty of fiction the main idea do not confuse theme with the main idea they are not the same the main idea is basically the thesis if you will of fiction it is clearly stated usually what the main idea is it's supported by examples and evidence it is something that you can very clearly see and maybe even explicitly see within a story so we've seen this a few times like obey Your Mother from the little thief in the pantry but Universal themes might have to do with compassion within that same story the girl's compassion on the mouse and that a thief will be caught you know what I mean it's like they'll be caught they'll enjoy what they get while they can but they will eventually be caught that is a possible theme to be derived from that story okay so let's get into types of setting historical setting remember there are four types of setting this is a good time to take notes historical setting is the approximate time period of the story so for example you could say colonial America 1492 to 1763 you could say the American Civil War from 1860s to 1865 you could say all kinds of things with types of setting and historical setting however it is not likely to be explicitly stated the time period but it's possible that it might as well so it is important to acknowledge historical setting where you may social setting this is the culture the religious background the moral background politics emotional conditions that restrain the character so maybe perhaps a a character will only act within the bounds of their culture maybe something that would seem like an obvious conclusion to the story an obvious way to solve a problem is actually inconceivable in their own culture and just something that you do not do for example a very common American thing is to talk back to your parents to stand up for yourself and say hey mom and dad that is wrong but in certain cultures around the world that is not okay you do not do that it does not matter what your parents say You must do it you must obey and show them honor in American culture it's very individualistic and that is not what you see just watch almost any Disney movie where there's a child and a parent involved and you will see that so social setting is very very important for understanding how to comprehend a text another type of setting is geographical setting now this could be a specific place that they speak about on the map whether they give coordinates or whether they name the state that they're in or the country that they're in or whatever geographical setting is the actual location of the story a city or a building could also be said so if you said at the state capital this happened then you're using a geographical setting physical setting this is when you describe the room maybe you read something where they describe what they see or maybe they're describing the environment around them or what the jungle looks like as they watch walk through it these are little details and these can take paragraphs and paragraphs and paragraphs to explain and to describe something or the area the room that they're in and stories often wield this especially St short stories they wield this very very carefully often times physical setting is used to set the mood of the story The Atmosphere what you're going to feel comes from the description of the setting in many many cases in short stories so yes it's important to hone in on time period or what's happening politically or whatever but physical setting is something that short stories really really enjoys using because it is so potent now the whole purpose of describing setting and the whole purpose of identifying setting is to acknowledge what it is doing in the story how is it contributing to the meaning of the story this is where comprehension comes in this is we identifying what type of setting is being used because if you don't acknowledge it if you just be like you know what that's just where the story happens then you are ignoring what it does to you what feelings it makes you feel and what its setting is doing and communicating in the story and whether or not it actually impacts the character's choices within the story in cases of stories that we've already read you have mice in a house so it makes sense it helps with the believability of the situation right it helps us believe what's happening a mouse going after food in a kitchen makes sense so the type of setting and describing the cake that he went after and all this stuff it makes sense and it adds to the story in that case there's other times where setting does not play as important of a role for example uh Mrs Brill if it took if we took out all the details of the place that she went and all the things that she was seeing and we just focus on the character herself we can see her thoughts we could see the things that are happening without the physical description of where she was so it is very important to acknowledge what setting is doing and how it impacts the story all right so next is going to come a series of examples that I have written for you I want you to identify the setting the room was dark and quiet Anna was only 80% sure no one was here she slipped in to look around the walls were made of deep Walnut paneling reaching to the high ceilings beautiful murals were carefully carved into each panel a lion a horse and a great Oak a huge desk was positioned in front of a massive bay window overlooking the gardens below okay so what's being described here is in an ornate office that she has slipped into perhaps in the night because it is dark this is physical setting notice all of the adjectives that are happening in here and painting a picture in the mind of a room that this girl is walking in I don't care who you ask Georgia is hot in August I'm sweating the native Georgians are sweating even the Flies are sweating this is ridiculous geographical setting okay we've named Georgia we are describing how hot it is this is now notice that there's no explanation of what time in history it is or anything like that this is just about Georgia and that is the focus and that's where this little paragraph derives meaning it's the fact that is in Georgia state of Georgia that it is hot as Hamilton stood to reply the whole crowd hushed though the youngest of the founding fathers Hamilton had a way with words that beckoned even his adversaries to quiet down who was he going to vote for Jefferson his rival or Burr a colleague who had never showed his hand my vote is for Jefferson the crowd was shocked no man knows bur's position that's not appropriate for the presidency bur stormed out of the room in a fit of rage all right take notes Here what's happening what's going on we have known names in history Hamilton Jefferson Burr so it's probably there's no description of the room we know they're in a room but there's no description we see that there's a crowd and that they're hushed and that they're listening but there's no description of that crowd thus we are talking about historical figures which means we are looking at probably a social setting when Hamilton swung the vote to Jefferson instead of verr when the vote had to come down to him all right I want you to go ahead and watch this trailer clip of Jurassic world dominion and come back and answer the questions I wanted to show them something that wasn't an illusion something that was real something that they could see and touch creation is an act of sheer will life will find a way we can't keep her here forever they find their Wonder never going to see her again we got to protect her that's our job humans and dinosaurs can't coexist we created an ecological [Applause] disaster Ali Sadler Alan Grant you didn't come out all this way just to catch up now did you you coming or what we're racing toward the extinction of our species we not only lack dominion over nature we're subordinate to it [Music] come back I always come back that's another plane right not exactly don't don't move bigger why do they always have to go [Music] bigger what setting is being displayed in the clip what is the theme okay you can get both from this little snippet here there's only a few seconds I gave you but you can see exactly what's going on here with in these two questions there's a combination of physical geographical and time period settings going on here it's physical in that they show daily life settings that we recognize that the viewers the movie is designed for recognizes right in our modern world okay these are with us in Daily places that we recognize whether that's in our Fishers off the coast or whether that's at a movie theater we recognize these places and the thought of dinosaurs being there is terrifying the theme of this this piece of the clip is dinosaurs and humans cannot coexist it's showing what happens what the consequences of dinosaurs and humans being in the same place are so very interesting little snippet there all right The discus thrower by Richard Seltzer this story is going to have about eight slides but I've spaced it out a little bit more than in previous ones and I want you to pay attention pause and read to yourself if you would this is great practice to integrate your skills with reading and speaking and then come back and listen to me read it out loud as well and this way you will be able to practice your reading and listening and if you go Slide by slide I think that is best so read aloud to yourself and then listen to me read it aloud to you that's going to help a lot or you can listen listen to me first and then read aloud yourself both okay what matters is is that you go through these two or three times each taking the notes on the vocabulary you don't know so that you learn and you invest your time into English reading comprehension practice I Spy on my patients ought not a doctor to observe his patients by any means and from any stance that he might be the more fully assembl evidence so I stand in the doorways of the hospital rooms and gaze oh it is not all that fer of En act those in bed only need to look up to discover me but they never do from the doorway of room 542 the man in the bed seems deeply tanned blue eyes close cropped white hair give him the appearance of vigor and good health but I know that his skin is not Brown from the Sun it is Rusted rather in the STA last stage of containing the vile Repose within and the blue eyes are frosted looking inward like the windows of a snowbound cottage this man is blind this man is also legless the right leg missing from the mid thigh down the left from just below the knee it gives him the fimile of a great tree propped on pillows he cups his right thigh in both hands now and then he shakes his head as though acknowledging the intensity of his suffering in all of this he makes no sound is he mute as well as blind the room in which he dwells is empty of all possessions noit well cards small private catches of food they flowers slippers all the usual kick Shaws of the sick room there's only the bed a chair a nightstand and a Fray on wheels that can be swung across his lap for meals what time is it he asks 3:00 morning or afternoon afternoon he is silent there's nothing else he wants to know how are you I say who is it he asks it's the doctor how do you feel he does not answer right away feel he says I hope you feel better I say I press the button at the side of the bed down you go I say yes down he says he falls back upon the bed awkwardly his stumps unweighted by his legs and feet rise in the air presenting themselves I unwrapped the bandages from the stumps and begin to cut away the black scabs and the dead glazed fat with scissors and forceps A Shard of white bone comes loose I pick it away I wash the wounds with disinfected and redress the stumps all this while he does not speak what is he thinking behind those Lids that do not blink is he remembering a time when he was whole does he dream of feet of when his body was not a rotting log he lies solid and inert in spite of everything he remained impressive as though he were a sailor standing athwart a slanting deck anything more I can do for you I ask for a long moment he is silent yes he says at last and without the least irony you can bring me a pair of shoes in the corridor the head nurse is waiting for me we have to do something about him she says every morning he orders scrambled eggs for breakfast and instead of eating them he picks up the plate and throws it against the wall throws his plate nasty that's what he is no wonder his family doesn't come to visit they probably can't stand him any more than we can she's waiting for me to do something well we'll see I say the next morning I'm waiting at the corridor when the kitchen delivers his breakfast I watch the aid place the tray on the stand swing it across his lap she presses the button to raise the head of the bed then she leaves in time the man reaches to find the rim of the tray then on to find the Dome of the covered dish he lifts off the cover and places it on the stand he fingers across the plate until he probes the eggs he lifts the plate in both hands sets it on the palm of his right hand centers it balances it he hefts it up and down lightly getting the feel of it abruptly he draws back his right arm as far as he can there's the crack of a plate breaking against the wall at the foot of his bed and a small wet sound of the scrambled eggs dropping to the floor then he laughs it is a sound you have never heard is something new Under the Sun it could cure cancer out of the corridor the eyes of the head nurse narrow laughed did he she writes something down on her clipboard a second a arrives brings a second breakfast tray puts it on the nightstand out of his reach she looks over at me shaking her head and making her mouth go I see that we are to be accomplices I've got to feed you she says to the man oh no you don't says the man oh yes I do says the aid after the way you just did nurse says so get me my shoes the man said here's oatmeal the aid says open and she touches spoon to his lower lip I ordered scrambled eggs says the man that's right the aid says I step forward is there anything I can do I say who are you the man asks in the evening I go once more to that Ward to make my rounds the head nurse reports to me that room 542 is deceased she has discovered this quite by accident she says no there had been no sound nothing it's a blessing she says I go into his room a spy looking for Secrets he still there in his bed his face is relaxed grave dignified after a while I turned to leave my gaze sweeps the wall at the foot of the bed and I see the place where it has been repeatedly washed where the wall looks very clean and very white all right guys that is an incredibly um moving story in many ways and it's got a lot to do with the setting so let's take a look at the explicit comprehension quiz here use one word to describe the patient and this is up to you you can choose any word what do you think of him do you think he's crazy do you think he's sad lonely unable to remember unrecognizable what what do you think what did the patient order for breakfast he ordered eggs scrambled eggs every day what did the patient do with his breakfast it took a while every time but he would eventually reach over remove the Dome feel the eggs with his hands and then he'd put the plate on his hand reach all the way back and then swing it forward like a discus nasty means a delightful temperament true or false that's false nasty is not a good thing the patient dies with a shout not at all he actually died without a sound to the nurse's surprise there are the answers in case you did not hear okay so now it's time for the implicit comprehension in the short conversations we hear the patient's demand to know at the exact time and his demand for shoes why was he still interested in time and what did he want shoes for why do you think the patient throws the plates what role does the setting play in enhancing the mood and feelings for the reader what kind of narrator is used and what is the antagonist okay perhaps he was not aware of whatever trauma he had experienced maybe he wanted he was aware and just wanted to do normal things maybe he just was living in the past okay this is where we really come to Branch off into different things implicitly each reader is going to understand something a little different correct so for me I'm thinking that he's been through such trauma he's he's rotting away the the speaker says the doctor says at the beginning that he's got this vile Repose inside it says that his body is a rotting log that means he's got some kind of disease that's wasting his body away so to me I'm thinking as you watch your body parts fall off and rot away you're probably a bit upset about it but don't know what to do so if anything you can turn to normal things right now perhaps I don't believe that this this guy can understand or or listen well and remember but I do think that what he does remember is normal daily life things maybe he just wants to go for a walk go outside maybe he's looking for the time because he wants to feel like he has somewhere to be or maybe he's just living in a past memory I don't know but this is open to interpretation for the readers why do you think the patient throws the plates again we don't know and neither does the doctor he also wonders so maybe he's bored or reliving a past memory maybe he's trying to do something to liveen things up a bit and have something to laugh about for once I mean bored out of his mind you can't just sit there ring away and eat food every now and then he's got to do something right what role does the setting play in enhancing the mood and feelings for the reader it's a be room and he has no family or friends sending him anything there's there's nothing from family or friends it's just a room with a bed a nightstand the things he needs to survive there for the short time he has left he's in Hospice this is what we call Hospice people are sent there who are going to die and it's just a matter of time so they're being taken care of with intensive care and nurses and a doctor to check on them uh as as they come to the end so um that's that's what we're seeing here as well what kind of narrator is used this is a first person narrator the doctor is talking within the story he's sharing the story he's using I and what is the antagonist whatever is killing him imminent death but another possible interpretation of the antagonist would be the lack of dignity dignity is something that makes you important important people have dignity human beings have dignity that animals do not because we are human there's a little bit of a difference there we are not just animals there is a difference between right dignity comes but death shows no care for dignity right so the antag antagonist could be losing dignity in the face of death it's just another possible implicit comprehension inter a setting and theme what is the setting here it's physical setting the theme is that death is imminent death is coming for everyone it's a very sobering story in in that way there is dignity in death he took the time to describe the man's face despite all that he had been doing you could not tell that he was a man that would throw eggs against the wall and laugh about it in the description the doctor gave of the the dead man his face was calm relaxed peaceful and dignified so there is dignity in death and do not forget those who are suffering that is something else too you feel such such heartstrings being pulled for the man when you read that his room is empty there's nothing from family or friends there it's just him so definitely something to remember there all right so this is a concept match I want you to take these Concepts that we've been over in the last two lessons and I want you to match them together pause and then I'm going to give you the answers okay I hope that went really well for you let's see how you did time period goes to historical setting cultural aspects to social antagonist to death actual location to geographical setting foil to the complement or contrast to a protagonist hero to Superman of course um protagonist the main good guy description to physical setting cultural aspects to social setting of course so there you go those are the answers so remember the main thing to remember from this lesson are these explicit and implicit comprehension of a text both rely upon identifying the setting and theme of a story you've got to be able to do this this is necessary for understanding especially implicit meaning explicit meaning you could probably get from what's happening but sometimes setting is so intertwined into what's happening that you've got to be able to recognize that too setting can move a story story forward make it more realistic or even almost act like a character a story can have multiple settings that's important to remember as well theme can be understood in numerous Ways by different readers but a theme tends to be Universal don't forget that so if you come up with something that is all about that person's perspective on a topic then you're looking at a main idea not the theme there may be multiple themes in larger works of fiction so there's going to be one main idea but there may be multiple themes that's important to remember as well all right next we're going to talk about story and plot and that will be our last lesson on the elements of fiction so definitely uh get into it and I'll see you next time