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Ima Student Mr. Greenlee Elements of the Novel 7 March 2003
The Setting and Point of View in the Novel The Dark is Rising
II Setting: When, and Why? IIA Simple Setting The simple setting is southern England in the late Twentieth Century. Susan Cooper does not get specific with either. It takes place after the invention of the radio, because one is mentioned in the very beginning, but neither television or computers are mentioned. The specific area of southern England is also not identified. The Stanton's house is in a forest and near a river; there is a small village where Mr. Stanton has his jeweler's shop; and there are some farms nearby. Until his eleventh birthday, this world is all that Will Stanton knew. IIB Tone or Atmosphere On his birthday, however, Will Stanton begins taking trips through time. The time to which they travel is never clearly spelled out, but hints give the idea that different scenes take place first in the Dark Ages and then later during the 1600's or 1700's. When Will enters this world of the past he encounters the Old Ones and the Dark. Susan Cooper does a good job of creating a world that is confusing, strange, and mysterious. In the beginning, Will's inability to understand the world of the Old Ones is described as "Like not having the radio on the right station."
III Point of View: Third-Person Limited The novel has a third-person narrator because the narrator refers to the Will as "he" or "him" but never "I" or "me". It is third-person limited because the narrator only reveals what Will can see or hear. The advantage of this in a suspense novel is that the reader is kept in the dark about what is going on, just as Will Stanton is.
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