Exploring the Moral Universe of Setting

All too often, the teaching of setting is limited to “the time and place where the story occurs.” This approach fails to engage students with the complexity of setting and the ways in which time and place can impact our sense of self and belonging in the world. Literary critic Wayne C. Booth writes that the plots of great stories “are built out of the characters’ efforts to face moral choices. In tracing these efforts, we readers stretch our own capacities for thinking about how life should be lived.” ¹ In order to understand the moral choices that characters in literature make, we must first examine the identities of those making the moral choices, as well as the context in which they are made. Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm remind us that “setting is really about ‘rule setting.’ In other words, setting ‘sets’ or determines rules, constraints, and possibilities, potential conflicts and possible consequences.” ² Trying to navigate the (often unwritten) rules of a place is a complex task that characters face in the world of the text and that we face in the real world. 

This collection of learning experiences introduces the concept of “moral universe,” the written and unwritten rules of a place that help to determine characters’ interactions, choices, and courses of action and that help students understand the ways in which time and place influence our identities, sense of belonging, and moral decision-making processes.

• 1Wayne C. Booth, The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 187.
• 2Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Fresh Takes on Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View, and Theme (New York: Scholastic, 2010), 71.

Before using this learning experience, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

Introduce: Reflect on the Written and Unwritten Rules of a Familiar Place

1. Introduce the concept of “moral universe” by having the class list spaces in the school where students congregate (cafeteria, locker rooms, certain hallways, library, buses). Then have each student choose one space to reflect on in a journal response that explores these questions:
   • What are the written rules of the space? 
   • What are the unwritten rules of the space? Who creates these unwritten rules?
   • How are the written and unwritten rules communicated to the school community? 
   • Who enforces the unwritten rules? 
   • How do the written and unwritten rules impact how you feel and the choices you can make in this space?
2. Debrief in pairs and then as a class, noticing patterns that emerge across spaces. Then explain to students that just as in real life, the setting of a work of literature is much more than the time and place where the story happens. Setting also refers to the “moral universe” of the time and place. Write or project the definition of “moral universe” on the board: “The rules, constraints, possibilities, potential conflicts and potential consequences that affect the choices the characters make.” ¹ Characters must negotiate the written and unwritten rules of the setting in order to navigate its power hierarchies and systems of values, norms, and expectations. So, when talking about a story’s setting, in addition to concrete information like where and when a story takes place, we must also take into consideration its moral universe in order to fully understand characters’ identities, their sense of belonging, their choices, and their course of action. 
3. To the extent possible, have students work in small groups, based on the spaces they identified in their journals, to apply the definition of moral universe to that space. The following questions can guide their discussions. You may first need to review the definitions of norms, values, and hierarchies and provide examples if these are new concepts for your students. 
   • How would you describe the norms, values, hierarchies, and expectations that shape this space?
   • What possible conflicts happen there? 
   • What are potential consequences of these conflicts? 

Invite each group to share one or two ideas from their discussion with the class. Encourage students to look for patterns across spaces. 

Explore: Create a “Moral Universe of Setting” Web

Most works of literature include more than one setting. The narrative may progress through time and place, or it might include the points of view of more than one character, all of whom may exist in and move through different spaces. For this activity, choose (or let your students choose) a specific setting in the text for the class to focus on. Alternatively, you can assign or invite each group to choose a setting that interests them, for example, a character’s home, school, neighborhood, town, or region.

1. Divide students into groups and assign or let them choose their setting. Pass out the Moral Universe of Setting handout or have them create a web on a piece of chart paper and write the setting in the center. If they are using chart paper, they should create six “spurs” and label them as follows: Rules, Norms, Beliefs, Taboos, Hierarchies, Expectations. 
   
   Define the categories as needed and explain that students should use quotations and examples from the text to analyze the moral universe of their setting. Model the activity as a class by starting a web on the board and finding one text-based example or inference for each category. Then have groups create their “moral universe of setting” webs on their handouts or chart paper. 
2. If groups analyzed different settings, have them share the ideas from their webs in a Jigsaw activity (handout) or a gallery walk (chart paper). Then have them discuss the following questions in small groups and as a class, prompting students to provide specific examples to support their reasoning:

• How do individuals and groups in the text determine who belongs and who doesn’t? How are those messages conveyed in the text? 
• To what extent does the moral universe of setting influence the characters’ identities, sense of belonging, and choices? 
• What are the consequences for characters if they challenge the rules, norms, hierarchies, power structures, and/or values of the setting?
• How is the setting in the text and its moral universe similar to or different from our world today? What makes you say that?

Extend: Map a Space in Your Community

Connect the concept of moral universe to students’ lives by asking them to create a “moral universe” web of a space in their school or local community.

1. Have students reflect on the space or review and add to their reflections from the Introduce learning experience.
2. Next, have them list all the individuals who inhabit the space, as well as the related written and unwritten rules, hierarchies, norms, expectations, and taboos. They might include quotations from the student handbook, things they overhear or that others have said to them, images, and/or symbols. 
3. Then have students create a visual representation of the ideas they generated, using sketches, images, words, phrases, and quotations to create a map of the moral universe that conveys the rules, constraints, possibilities, potential conflicts, and potential consequences of choices people make in the space.
4. In a multi-paragraph piece of reflective writing, invite students to explore the following questions: 
   • How does your map depict the moral universe of the space you chose? Discuss at least three specific choices you made when creating your map.
   • How do individuals and groups in your school determine who belongs and who doesn’t in this space? How are those messages conveyed? 
   • What would you like other people in your school to think or know about this space? Consider students, teachers, administrators, adult staff, families, and visitors.

• 1Smith and Wilhelm, Fresh Takes on Literary Elements, 71.