This term I have studied a selection of short stories. In this essay I will describe the importance of setting and explain why it was important in conveying information about characters and themes.

In "The Whale", the meeting house, the village and the beach with the dying whale are three settings that convey information about the themes of their neglected and dying culture and the characters of the old man and his niece. The only two settings in "The Child", the beach and the house, weren't used very much and weren't as descriptive but they convey information about the themes of the circle of life and the freedom of the child within.

In "The Whale", the meeting house was the main setting and conveyed symbolic and actual information about the old man and how his world was fading away into darkness "this meeting house has been his heart...