Characters' Place in Society

In almost all the literary works that we have read, there seems to be a bold separation of where people fit in society. I think it is very important for the author of any story to give the reader as much information as possible about the setting of the story. Social class of characters is one of those settings of the story that we need to get a sense of what is going on and why characters think and act the way they do. Social class of individuals in stories can also give us a sense of the time and place when the events took place and sometimes even the culture in which they took place. For example in Gulliver’s Travels, where the traveler gives the reader hints about where he fits in society, “I was ordered to speak the few words I understood; and while they were at dinner, the master taught me the names for oats, milk, fire, water, and some others which I would readily pronounce after him, having from my youth a great facility in learning languages.”(Swift 444). With this quote, Gulliver tells the reader that he has experience with languages, and it is easy to assume that his family could afford language teachers when he was young. Also, the way he compares languages and the anecdotes of where he has heard those sounds before, “In speaking, they pronounce through the nose and throat, and their language approaches nearest to the High Dutch or German, of any I know in Europe; but is much more graceful and significant. The Emperor Charles V made almost the same observation, when he said, that if he were to speak to his horse, it should be in High Dutch.” (Swift 445). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, when Mrs. Saville’s sister writes to her about Victor--his new acquaintance—he says that he thinks that if Mrs. Saville met Victor, her opinion about him would be: “What a noble fellow!” (Shelley 11). Remarks like this made by the authors of such passionate and complicated stories help readers know and understand better the characters, giving them a connection and place in society.