Amy Tan’s “A pair of Tickets”, and James Joyce’s “Araby”, are both works of literature that use setting in theirs texts very similarly. The use of having described the setting allows for the readers to have a more vivid image of what is going on in the story. This technique, used by both authors, is a fascinating way of having the readers captivate any kind of realistic image. Amy Tan in “A pair of Tickets”, and James Joyce’s “Araby”, not only use descriptive techniques in setting to provide graphic imagery, but use setting to shape plot, point of view, and character in both stories.
In Amy Tan’s “A pair of Tickets”, the setting takes place in China. Having the story take place in China allows for the reader to create an image in their minds…show more content… The narrator’s emotions are magnified because Joyce goes into great detail to describe his setting and surroundings. Joyce uses setting in order to do this by emphasizing where the character lives, who is in his environment, and how they affect him. This use of setting in a story was important in developing character. Joyce goes about describing the street his character lives on. Joyce refers to the streets as “being blind,” (262) and that the only time the street comes alive is when the boys are let out of school. Joyce refers to the boys as being set free as soon as they come out of school. One can imagine what that kind of environment is life when the boys are let out of school and are running around in the streets. One is able to capture sounds and imagery in this description. In addition, the neighborhood is described as isolated and dull. The other houses on the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces." (262). Joyce concludes with “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." (265) This allows readers to actually feel what the character is feeling through setting. When the setting is portrayed to be dark and negative, the feelings are also negative. This use of setting to shape point of view by portraying feeling and imagery allows for is a
