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Motifs
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
Broadly, the short story is set in Newburgh, New York in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, known as the Civil Rights Era, much of the United States remained segregated, and activists all over the country fought for racial equality. The story plays out against this tense backdrop and progresses through various vignettes chronologically, beginning at St. Bonny's, the dreary orphanage where Twyla and Roberta first meet. Though the conditions there are difficult, a bond develops between the two.
The gaps between each encounter vary in length. The next time Roberta and Twyla meet, they are adults and the setting has moved to Howard Johnson's, a seedy diner where Twyla works. Roberta enters as a customer with two male companions. The diner seems to be in an economically depressed area, though Roberta appears to be living well and simply passing through.
The two girls encounter each other several years later at a gourmet grocery store, moving to a coffee shop to catch up like old friends. The upscale grocery and the conversation between the two reveals the growing class differences between them: Twyla is working class and Roberta is quite wealthy. This contrast between the two girls parallels the ongoing gentrification of Newburgh itself—it used to be a working class town, but wealthy families have started to move in, thus necessitating the existence of well-to-do establishments like the grocery store.
Some time after this, the two meet on a picket line where Roberta protests bussing. The conflict between the two comes to a head here, as protestors menacingly rock Twyla's vehicle. Twyla responds later by counter-protesting with signs directed at Roberta personally. The contention between the protestors for and against bussing mirrors the differences and resentment that have developed between Twyla and Roberta.
The final setting of the story is a diner near a high-end hotel where a fancy party is being held. Roberta and Twyla meet there by chance and once again discuss their childhood memories. In a new place very different from the orphanage they grew up in, it is almost impossible for them to access a true memory of what happened to Maggie and to revive their bond. The growing foreignness of each setting reaches a pinnacle here, motioning towards the unintelligibility of Roberta and Twyla's relationship in an altered world. At the same time, it is this altered world that continuously brings the girls together by chance.
