Setting (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Date: 10/30/14
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird

Prompt: Describe the setting and how it is characterized

I'm still in the middle of the great book, To Kill a Mockingbird. There are tons of fantastic aspects about this best selling novel, but one of its greatest traits is its portrayal of the setting. My interpretation of this book's setting and why it's so great to me is probably a lot different than you'd expect. Usually, when a setting is great, it's described as extremely descriptive. Enough for you to leave nothing for your imagination to work on. Which in my opinion, isn't always the best.

What's great about To Kill a Mockingbird is how it has the absolute perfect balance of description in its setting. Now I'm not proposing that description is bad in a story, I'm just saying that sometimes, it's good to let your mind decide on some chunks of the story. For example, this segment of the book gives enough description to provide the main details of the setting, but lets the reader decide the rest. "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop" So the author doesn't say, "Raindrops gloomily dripped down every windowsill in Maycomb and the sky was a dull gray with only 4 street lamps slightly illuminating the street." Nope, she lets the reader decide if he wants the rest that way. He just sets the tone.

I know for a fact, if you walk up to someone who's read this book, and asked them to describe the setting, they would have different descriptions.  Some would probably be completely different.  I honestly just love it when authors leave part of a story for the reader to determine for him/herself.  A perfect example of something like that would be the short story, "The Lady or the Tiger"  The author actually gives the reader the choice of choosing the entire ending.

Although I enjoy descriptive writing, I do think that sometimes, it's nice to be able to make your own decisions about the story.