The Importance of the Setting
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
What is ‘setting’?
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An important literary element in most novels
Refers to the time period
Refers to the geographic location
Helps create the mood / atmosphere of the
‘story world’
• Can include cultural, political, social and
psychological background as well
• Often adds to theme and has symbolic meaning
Settings in Mister Pip
• Bougainville (the island itself, inside Matilda’s
house, in the classroom)
• Wellington
• “the spare room”
• Modern day England
• Note: key settings from Great Expectations
are also referred to as a contrast or
comparison.
Group Work
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Group One Chapters 1 -7
Group Two Chapters 8-14
Group Three Chapters 15 -21
Group Four Chapters 22 - 28
Divide up the chapters in your group and
collect useful quotes about the settings, note
imagery used, symbols, significance to themes
etc and page numbers.
Set Out Like This for Email
Group Number:
Recorder:
Setting Quotes and Analysis from Chapters …
• Quote + page number “…..”
• Our Analysis
• Proofread and share with group/partner.
Email once satisfied jholden@tgc.school.nz
Example
e.g.
“They saw what the parrots saw, and what the dogs saw
while sitting on their scrawny arses snapping their jaws
at a passing mosquito” (2)
Analysis
This creates a picture of the mix of tropical wildlife and
domesticated animals in the village. The fact that the
dogs are ‘scrawny’ suggests they live by scavenging and
the choice of slang such as ‘arses’ suggest a relaxed,
rustic atmosphere. The onomatopoeia in ‘snapping’ adds
to the vividness of the picture by adding sound.