Every writer devotes a lot of pages to describing the setting of the story in detail. An inexperienced reader may think that there is no sense to describe the nature of the buildings in such details and he/she finds it to be quite boring to read so many pages about detailed descriptions of the setting. The role of the setting is very important as far as it helps the writers to present their characters fully and pass the main idea to the reader. Comparing the settings of John Steinbeck’s, The Chrysanthemums with John Updike’s A & P we may point out that although these settings are very different, they play the same role.
John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums is set in California where the writer lives, and he knows this area well to describe it in detail. The scene opens up with the depiction of the Salinas Valley in California with the fog laying over the mountains. The depiction is quite symbolic in this case as far as it gives the reader the feeling of loneliness and isolation. Steinbeck depicts the valley as “a closed pot” and it refers to the strained atmosphere or even it passes to the reader the feeling of isolation (Steinbeck, n.d.). Further on, the reader understands that this depiction of the valley resembles Elisa Allen’s life. She also feels like being in a “closed pot” (Steinbeck, n.d.). Such resemblance between nature and the characters presents the connection between nature and human beings.
Steinbeck uses the setting to present his characters fully. Elise Allen is firstly depicted in her garden. Her care for flowers testifies to the fact that she is a tender and hard-working person. The choice of the garden of chrysanthemums is also symbolic in this work. It is a well-known fact that the chrysanthemum is the flower of death, and it is often connected with a funeral. It is used to represent mourning and grieving. On the other hand, the Americans consider any flower to be the symbol of beauty and happiness. There are countries where flowers are the symbols of innocence and loyalty. All these symbols help to understand the character of Elisa Allen much better. She is doomed to live in routine till her death, but she tries to be happy and keep loyalty to her husband. More than that, she is a beautiful and innocent woman. John Steinbeck uses the setting to present his characters symbolically.
John Updike’s A & P set in an A & P store. It is the grocery store of 1950 (Updike, n.d.). This store is situated in a small town and the boy works as a cashier that is quite a routine and monotonous work. The main character Sammy is firstly presented in the store. The author uses this setting to highlight “the artificial life of his character under the artificial light of the store” (Updike, n.d.). His every new day does not change from the others. The setting of his life does not change as well. Most of the time of Sammy’s life is spent in the store with the same atmosphere, same smells, same colors, same isles, and other boring things. The beauty of the entire world is limited for Sammy to this little store. The colorful world seems to him to be devoid of color. The girls are depicted oppositely. They are from another world, from a real world with millions of colors, smells, and feelings. The setting helps the author to pass to the reader the atmosphere of the store and cheerful and vibrant girls from the outside world. More than that, the setting helps Sammy to understand the value of the beauty of the world. The whole work is based on the setting. John Updike uses the setting to pass the main idea to the reader.
The choice of setting is connected to the main ideas of these works. The place of living as in John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums and the place of working as in John Updike’s A & P influence the main characters and they are presented as their integral parts. The surrounding world of characters says a lot about them and the author presents this world in detail to present their characters fully. An experienced reader who pays a lot of attention to these details understands that the development of events is justified. There is no wonder that Elisa Allen feels as living in a “closed pot” as far as the author has driven at this even at the beginning of the story with the help of the setting. John Updike has chosen the grocery store to depict the boring and monotonous life of his character not by coincidence. This setting fully presents the way of life of his main character.
From the above said we may conclude that the setting plays a very important role in John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums and John Updike’s A & P. The settings in these works are very different as far as John Steinbeck presents the character related to nature while John Updike presents the character as an integral part of the building as the so-called decoration of the building. More than that, the setting presents the general atmospheres of the works namely the atmosphere of solitude and mourning in The Chrysanthemums and artificiality and counterfeit in A & P.
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. n.d. The Chrysanthemums. Web. 2012.
Updike, John. n.d. A & P. Web. 2012.