4.2.2 Time setting

In the next discussion, I would like to expose a little bit about the time setting in the novel entitle Heartbeat by Danielle Steel. I will see it from year, month, day, date, and hour of the action occurred and some other time signs which are closely related in building this story.

The main character depicted in this novel is as the producer of the most successful daytime soap on American TV, he is always busy to finish the manuscript of his show, whenever he was worried about the show, he stopped, wrote a segment or two, turned everything upside down and then he was happy. It can be seen in the following quotation:

A quick fix with a pen as he leapt to his feet, and grabbed handfuls of what he had been working on for the past seven hours, since five o’clock in the morning (P: 9)

The paragraph above is called time setting, because it shows us about the time. It can be seen from the words the past seven hour, since five o’clock in the morning. It shows about the time when Bill Thigpen types the manuscript of his show. Next the last time setting exposed in the beginning structure in this novel is the time setting is about when his show was stopped. It could be seen in the quotation bellow:

And an instant outcry when the show disappeared again in September, Within two months, a life worth living was back and Bill Thigpen was…….(P: 11)

From the data above, we can see that it belongs to place setting, because we can find from the sentence the show disappear again in September, within two months a life worth living was back, it shows about the time when the show was back