Setting Chapter 5 Practice – “1984”
In the novel “1984” by George Orwell, there is many different instances where mood and setting are both illustrated in different manners. The two types of setting is physical and emotional, where physical setting is when the actual facts, such as location, time, date, and weather are stated to help ignite the mood in a story. Emotional setting is when the literature is setting a whole atmosphere which may provoke different emotions in the reader. An example of well illustrated setting in the novel, “The weather was baking hot. In the labyrinthine Ministry the windowless, air-conditioned rooms kept their normal
temperature, but outside the pavements scorched one’s feet
and the stench of the Tubes at the rush hours was a horror.” (Orwell 186). This quotation gives us a direct idea of what is going on in the story because it provides concrete facts like the temperature and how the pavement was “scorching” as well as the Tubes being a horrible stench, which sets the mood to being uncomfortable and unenjoyable. Here is an example of emotional setting in the novel, ” As soon as they arrived they would sprinkle everything with pepper bought on the black market, tear off their clothes, and make love with sweating
bodies, then fall asleep and wake to find that the bugs had
rallied and were massing for the counter-attack.” (Orwell 189). This is a emotional mood setting example because it does not state what the environment is like, but we can take the fact that they are making love with a sense of urgency that the mood may be something of a romantic and frantic but comfortable mood as we see routine like behavior from both Winston and Julia. Although it may be challenging to uncover at times, being able to tell what kind of mood is being set and used is very useful and a fun skill to have.