Importance of Setting as a Descriptive Tool in Literature

Setting plays an important role in all literary works, some may say it even portrays it’s own character. Setting is not only considered it’s own character but also may enhance a characters attributes. Through setting a reader is given insight into social standings, upbringing, and overall background of a character’s life, furthering their knowledge of the characters thoughts and motives. Setting can be as broad as the country in which the story takes place or as specific as the type of chair the protagonist sits in during a monologue, each time having the same effect. An author uses setting as a way of describing a character using secondary sources. Instead of saying, for instance, that the Bennet family is not as wealthy as Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, she merely describes both houses, clearly illustrating how setting can be used as a descriptive tool in literature.