Setting

Time setting

The time setting of the short story “The Shining Mountain” is difficult to determine. Because it is meant to resemble a fairy tale, there is no specific time period mentioned in the text. Like many fairy tales, the story starts with the words “once there was” (p. 18, l. 1), which is meant to remove the importance of a specific time setting and make the story universally relevant. However, it is clear the action takes place in modern times, because the main character watches the news on TV: “She would come home from an ordinary school day and there he would be on the BBC news” (p. 18, ll. 10-13). This marks the story as a mix of fairy tale and realism.

The plot structure is linear and chronological, but includes a time skip of several years at the beginning of the story. “As the years passed and Pangma-La grew bigger” (p. 19, l. 3). However, it is not clear exactly how many years have passed.

Physical setting

On of the locations in the story is Pangma-La’s family home: “She would come home from an ordinary school day and there he would be on BBC news, planting the Union Jack on a far, far mountain peak” (p. 18, ll. 10-13). Their home seems to be somewhere in Scotland (p. 18, l. 7), far from the mountains her father spen...