Atmosphere is a literary device authors use to make setting an integral part of the story. This helps in creating certain feelings or aesthetics crucial in capturing a reader's attention. Setting can often act as the key element to a story or serve as a type of character even. The settings in Southern Gothic fiction have a certain atmosphere that helps define that genre. Similarly, stories about class or inequality will also use atmosphere to define conflicting settings.
This week's literature post question is: How do William Faulkner and Katherine Mansfield create atmosphere in "A Rose for Emily" and "The Garden Party" respectively to establish the importance and significance of setting?