This GCSE English Literature quiz takes a look at setting in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The location and the time in which the events of a text take place are two significant elements of a work’s setting. In addition to the events explicitly taking place in a novel, there will be events occurring in the background to which characters might allude. This wider fictional world is known as context and is also a key component of its setting (fictional context should not, of course, be confused with the author’s real-life context). Another important element of setting is atmosphere, which can change multiple times in a text, just as a text might include several different settings.
It is important to spend some time considering the setting of any text you study. The world in which the characters live impacts the decisions which they make over the course of the plot.