Flannery O’Connor and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie both have extremely distinct stories. Their stories detail experiences that the normal person would never encounter in his/her lifetime. Their stories often use specific settings to support the action. The setting combined with the action help shape the meaning of the entire story. Both authors often uses the setting as foreshadowing the action to come in the stories. Flannery O’Connor’s stories are always set in the South. However, each story is set in a certain part of the South. O’Connor makes sure that the reader is aware of the surroundings of the character. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the setting is especially prevalent. On page 124, O’Connor describes the setting as, “They turned
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The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles was a day’s journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around and the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them”. This scene depicts the setting as mysterious and dangerous. The passage is filled with negative words such as “roughly, hilly, sharp, dangerous and depression”. It foreshadows what is to come in the story. The description of the dangerous embankments foreshadows the car accident the family experiences. The description of the “red depression” and “dust-coated trees” foreshadows the death of the family. The red parallels the blood of the family. As the story continues, the family meets the Misfit who makes the comment on page 127, “’Ain’t a cloud in the sky,’ he remarked, looking up at it. ‘Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither.’” This description is quite odd as the sky is described to be blank. This represents how the family’s ending is …show more content…
Rather than the setting always supporting the action, the setting sometimes contrasts the action. The setting in Adichie’s stories can be seen as ironic at times. This can especially be seen in “Ghosts”. On page 57, the narrator describes, “…concrete grounds of the university Bursary”. The setting of the story is interesting as the story is about ghosts. Ghosts are usually seen to be fictional. The fictional ghost is a contrast to the concrete and real ground in the university. In addition, people who believe in ghosts are often portrayed to be uneducated, yet in this story, it is otherwise. The man who believes he has seen ghosts works in a university as a professor. Professors represent people who are practical, reasonable and do not believe in fantasies. However, this professor insists that ghosts, known to be fictional characters, are real. This creates a contrast between reality and fantasy. The setting of the story is real, yet the action seems to be fantasy. As the story continues, the setting begins to support the action. On page 60, the narrator says, “Finally I said goodbye to them and walked toward my car, parked near the whistling pine trees that shield the Faculty of Education from the Bursary.” This is where the narrator sees his ghost, Ikenna Okoro. The setting is in an empty area that seems mysterious and eerie due to the “whistling pine trees”. This is a change from
The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles was a day’s journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around and the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them”. This scene depicts the setting as mysterious and dangerous. The passage is filled with negative words such as “roughly, hilly, sharp, dangerous and depression”. It foreshadows what is to come in the story. The description of the dangerous embankments foreshadows the car accident the family experiences. The description of the “red depression” and “dust-coated trees” foreshadows the death of the family. The red parallels the blood of the family. As the story continues, the family meets the Misfit who makes the comment on page 127, “’Ain’t a cloud in the sky,’ he remarked, looking up at it. ‘Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither.’” This description is quite odd as the sky is described to be blank. This represents how the family’s ending is …show more content…
Rather than the setting always supporting the action, the setting sometimes contrasts the action. The setting in Adichie’s stories can be seen as ironic at times. This can especially be seen in “Ghosts”. On page 57, the narrator describes, “…concrete grounds of the university Bursary”. The setting of the story is interesting as the story is about ghosts. Ghosts are usually seen to be fictional. The fictional ghost is a contrast to the concrete and real ground in the university. In addition, people who believe in ghosts are often portrayed to be uneducated, yet in this story, it is otherwise. The man who believes he has seen ghosts works in a university as a professor. Professors represent people who are practical, reasonable and do not believe in fantasies. However, this professor insists that ghosts, known to be fictional characters, are real. This creates a contrast between reality and fantasy. The setting of the story is real, yet the action seems to be fantasy. As the story continues, the setting begins to support the action. On page 60, the narrator says, “Finally I said goodbye to them and walked toward my car, parked near the whistling pine trees that shield the Faculty of Education from the Bursary.” This is where the narrator sees his ghost, Ikenna Okoro. The setting is in an empty area that seems mysterious and eerie due to the “whistling pine trees”. This is a change from