How does time play a role in how a story is portrayed?

Gender roles, prejudices, environmental focuses, shared human experiences all may be different depending on the time frame of the story. How does it not play a role? It all matters unless you are making it timeless on purpose…..

Well, so far as general conversation goes, we are fairly lucky in historical writing, in the sense that for the most part, the English language has not undergone too many changes in the past hundred years. Something to look out for is the use of non-period vocabulary, meaning anything too contemporary or likewise antiquated. Steer clear of that, and you’ll be in fairly good shape. KhiaKarma’s sentiments on the matter also constitute sound advice.

There are also time markers, such as; In the 1920’s people had not yet heard of splitting the atom. Telephones were still regarded with suspicion by many. There was no “welfare“as we know it today. Patriotism was a given. There are thousands of examples….
And yet, you can set a story in any era and still have a timeless story. Look at Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
The story depends on the skill of the writer to weave the elements of whichever era into a story that provides a seamless backdrop for the characters and their concerns so that one is swept away and not rudely made aware of the glaring details. Rather, they should blend into a harmonious tapestry so that no akward phrasing or too obvious attempts at “characterization” can be noted.

The underlying accepted “normatives” of every day life – racial separation, stereotypes of gays, patriarchal authority, education of women, unmarried women with children being shunned, “keeping up with the Jones’”. Even though people don’t fundamentally change through the ages, the normatives change.

Read “Freedom” by Jonathan Frantz and contrast it with “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates.

There are some timeless themes and I recently “discovered” this 1880 story that very accurately describes our modern “internet dating”.
There’s a good reason there are seven basic plot archetypes and the ones that aren’t too pop-culture referential will endure.

Frame of mind. An example could be made for men and women. Women where considered loose if they were forward. A good woman only spoke of polite things and simply existed to do womanly chores and have a family and raise children and obey their spouse.
A man should have control of their domain or he wasn’t consider a good man. He showed hardly any feelings in public. The more stoic he was or feared the better he was. Position in life marked his value as a person.