Extensive Use Of Setting By Clark example essay topic

In Walter Van Tilburg Clark's "The Portable Phonograph", the author makes setting play a major role in understanding the action of the characters within the story. Clark, a writer and an English Professor, lived from 1909 to 1971. During that time, he lived through both World Wars at a relatively young age, which may have influenced this story. Clark has excellent use of setting to make the atmosphere needed and set the proper mood, so this story is credible.

To accomplish this, Clark orients the reader to a unique place and time by use of the physical setting and human possessions, and uses symbolism to create a mood that gives the reader insight to how the characters must feel in their surroundings. In order to understand the behavior and actions of the four characters in this story, the author must describe the place physical place and time where the four characters must survive. The perception of this environment is crucial for the actions of the characters to be appropriate. Clark describes some sights in this decimated prairie, "The frozen mud still bore the toothed impress of great tanks, and a wanderer on the neighboring undulations might have stumbled, in this light, into large, partially filled-in and weed-grown cavities, their banks channeled and beginning to spread into badlands. These pits were such as might have been made by falling meteors, but they were not. They were scars of gigantic bombs...

". (292) The reference to both tank tracks and bomb creators, gives the reader the impression of a conventional war zone, where typical motorized and infantry combat must have been brutal, and ruined the homes of many. Clark's additional description of "frozen mud" and "weed grown cavities", show that the scene takes place months after the battle here has ended. Not only does the written word describe the scene, but also that fact that never once does Clark mention a solider, equipment or emplacements, insists the prairie is now behind the lines.

There are still explosions in the distance, and the four men must continue to live in fear of a returning battle. Time is not only shown by imagery of the surroundings on the prairie, but is equally conveyed by the few objects that the Doctor, the dweller of the cell, possesses. What few items he has, would all be considered antiques in this day. In combination with the type of war that was fought, this leads the reader to believe that the story takes place between the First World War and the 1950's. Burlap and canvas are materials that are very rarely used in today's society, but was very common before the days of nylon and plastic. Burlap is the doctor's choice for wrapping his books, and canvas, his door.

In a land where seemingly very little has survived the battle, the Doctor manages to scrounge this army surplus. His protection at the end of the story is a lead pipe, nearly impossible to find today, but common in the early 20th century. Even the most important item, the portable phonograph, helps to date the story. "He returned and placed tenderly upon the packed floor, where the firelight might fall upon it, an old, portable phonograph in a black case. He smoothed the top with his hand then opened it.

The lovely green-felt-covered disk became visible. I have been using thorns as needles. But tonight... I will use a steel needle. There are only three left".

(294) Even during World War One, this phonograph might have been an antique. The fact that it is hand wound, uses steel needles, and has a felt covered turntable shows that it is also an item of the early 20th century. Clark also emphasizes mood through a symbolic description of the setting in the first few opening sentences. The authors choice of adjectives point the reader toward the feeling of despair, death, and doom that characters must have while trying to remain sane in this wasteland. "The red sunset, with narrow, black cloud strips like threats across it, lay on the curved horizon of the prairie. The air was still and cold, and in it settled the mute darkness and greater cold of night.

High in the air there was wind, for through the veil of the dusk the clouds could be seen gliding rapidly south and changing shapes. A sensation of torment of two-sided, unpredictable nature, arose from the stillness of the earth air beneath the violence of the upper air. Out of the sunset, through the dead matted grass and isolated weed stalks of the prairie, crept the narrow and deeply rutted remains of a road". (292) Many phrases serve as symbols like, "black cloud" a stereotypic symbol of bad luck, or "veil of the dusk", as if the dusk was a widow wearing a black veil. The references to the air, still and cold, gives the feeling of death nearby.

The mentioning of weeds and dead matted grass present a background where nothing can flourish. The road, an inanimate object, described with the words "crept and remains" give it a sort of dieing life. Without Clark's excellent use of setting, the reader would not be able to relate to the characters in this atmosphere. Clark's conveying of time and place by both the means of physical surroundings, as well as, the material objects, allows the reader to be familiar with the scene. The symbolism used throughout the descriptions of the prairie, permits the reader to understand the frame of mind of the characters. Devoid of the extensive use of setting by Clark in "The Portable Phonograph", the characters actions would be ambiguous and confusing.