Setting

Discuss what role the setting plays in WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen? Identify some specific examples in the scenes and action that reveal or describe the time or

place. Is the fact that the story is set during the Depression relevant? What if the story had been set in the Roaring 20s when jobs were plentiful and spirits high?

Other than getting the circus from city to city, how important is the railroad and its access? Or is it?