Analyzing the Setting and Atmosphere in a

Creative Nonfiction Text

Read these excerpts from “Mountain Province: Sagada” by Johanna Michelle Lim then answer the questions that
follow.
Excerpt 1:
Past La Trinidad moving to Halsema Highway, an intricate artwork of curves and drops, air starts to get denser and the cold biting.
Mufflers and gloves come out, “decorative” accessories in any other place but here. The open window feels like an air conditioner
set full blast on the cheeks. Atok, Benguet, appears hazy like in a dream. The fog is constant companion to passersby here and in
seeing them, one wishes that if only, one could just take handfuls of it and pocket them for souvenirs. So in a much-needed day in
the future, he could just take it out, spread it, and continue the same dream. By the middle of the ride after a brief stopover in
Atok, there is no road, no trees, no cliffs. Just the mist, all-encompassing grays, and a runny nose.
Excerpt 2:
The roads nearer to Sagada itself from the town before are unfinished. It is dominated by narrow dirt trails that only one vehicle,
our bus, can get through. The unpaved road, susceptible to landslides, is sandwiched by two cliffs that have a direct drop to a
thousand or so feet below. And fortunately or un, rides are made even more exciting when a driver, insouciant to the shouts of his
tourist passengers, zigzags through as if it were a sin for wheels to touch ground. This continues on, 80-km. speed on uneven dirt
trail, until there is a semblance of asphalt again, and houses on top of limestone formations, looking as natural there almost as if
they were carved with it. And always, always, is the biting cold, made even chillier by a change in the wind pattern, a coming
Tropical Depression. The coldness is the only welcoming committee needed; greeting even before feet touches soil. Only then have
you reached Sagada.
Questions:
1. What place is being described in Excerpt 1? How about in Excerpt 2? 2. How did you feel while reading Excerpt 1? How about
while reading Excerpt 2? 3. What were the words in Excerpt 1 that made you feel this way? How about in Excerpt 2?

What Is It
The parts of the creative nonfiction text taken from “Mountain Province: Sagada” by Johanna Michelle Lim describe
Atok, Benguet in excerpt 1 and Sagada, Mountain Province in excerpt 2. When we talk about places, we often refer to
the element of SETTING. When you were asked how you felt as you read these, you were asked to describe the
ATMOSPHERE of the text.
 SETTING refers to an actual place and time where and when an event happens. The setting is made more
realistic
when we incorporate or include the physical, sociological, psychological environment in depicting settings. The physical
environment refers to the geographical locations, immediate surroundings, weather, or timing. The sociological
environment refers to the cultural context while the psychological environment may refer to the reflection of what a
character thinks or feels.
 ATMOSPHERE is the mood which evokes or reminds us of certain feelings or emotions, conveyed by the words
used to describe the setting or reflected by the way your subject speaks or in the way he or she acts. When we
read these excerpts, we feel how cold Atok is and how exciting it is to travel along the roads of Sagada because of the
words and details that the writer uses. To make us feel the coldness of Atok, Lim used the following words and phrases:
o biting cold
o mufflers and gloves
o an air conditioner set full blast on the cheeks
o fog
How does Lim make us feel her excitement while she travelled along the roads of Sagada? She does this by
using these details that also describe the setting:
 narrow dirt trails that only one vehicle, our bus, can get through
 unpaved road, susceptible to landslides, is sandwiched by two cliffs that have a direct drop to a thousand or
so feet below
CREATIVE NONFICTION 12-A & B TAKE HOME MODULE
  a driver… zigzags through as if it were a sin for wheels to touch ground
o  80-km. speed on uneven dirt trail, until there is a semblance of asphalt
o Again
What I Have Learned
ACTIVITY 4: Let us summarize what you have learned by completing the statements below:

1. SETTING refers to an actual _________________ and _________________where and when an event

happens. The setting is made more realistic when we incorporate or include the __________________,
__________________, _________________ environment in depicting settings.
2. ATMOSPHERE is the _________________ which evokes or reminds us of certain _________________ or
_________________, conveyed by the _________________ used to describe the setting or reflected by the
way your subject speaks or in the way he or she acts.
3. _________________ are extremely important in evoking a sense of time and place.

What I Can Do

When you write your creative nonfiction text, always remember the following:
 Provide a clear description of the place you are writing about in a way that your
readers feel like you have taken them there.
 To be able to make your readers feel that you are taking them to that place you
are writing about, you have to provide details that will appeal to the senses.
 Show the readers the place by doing the following:
o write vivid descriptions that are of significance
o use sensory imagery
o deploy memorable similes and metaphors to describe a particular place
o include concrete and specific details
 Describing the place or setting is not about telling the reader about the place,
which is nothing more than a summary of the facts as you see them
 You don’t have to include all the details or descriptions–only those that have
significance to yourself and your readers

ACTIVITY 5:

Think of a place that is important for you. What are the details about this place that you will include in your CNF
text to make your readers feel as if they have gone there? What atmosphere or mood would you like to make
your readers feel in connection to this place?

TRUE OR FALSE?
Write T if the statement is true; write F is it is false.
1. Setting refers to an actual place and time where and when an event happens
2. Setting is limited to the physical setting where the event happened.
3. Atmosphere is the mood which evokes or reminds us of certain feelings or emotions.
4. The description of the setting can affect the atmosphere in a creative nonfiction text.
5. Details in a creative nonfiction text can be invented.
6. Details in a creative nonfiction text have to be factual.
7. The creative nonfiction writer includes all details about setting to make his or her creative nonfiction text
interesting.
8. The creative nonfiction writer selects the right details to produce the right emotion in his or her readers.
9. The creative nonfiction writer establishes the significance of the details he or she is including in the text.
CREATIVE NONFICTION 12-A & B TAKE HOME MODULE
 10.The creative nonfiction writer uses the description of the setting to establish the mood of the creative
nonfiction text.

CREATIVE NONFICTION 12-A & B TAKE HOME MODULE