Which of the following would be considered just as important as the characters in a character-driven novel?

the setting, because the characters are affected by the environment.
the exposition, because that is where all characters are introduced.
the narrative hook, because this is where everything always goes wrong.
the plot, because this is how the story is developed.

Which statement best summarizes this excerpt from leo tolstoy's the death of ivan ilyich? and in imagination he began to recall the best moments of his pleasant life. but strange to say none of those best moments of his pleasant life now seemed at all what they had then seemed—none of them except the first recollections of childhood. there, in childhood, there had been something really pleasant with which it would be possible to live if it could return. but the child who had experienced that happiness existed no longer, it was like a reminiscence of somebody else.