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Satire
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
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Despite the fact that Francie lives in objectively unfortunate circumstances, her imagination transfigures the drab tenement setting into a landscape of wonder. Seen through her child's eyes, ordinary (even decrepit) aspects of Francie's surroundings become fantastical. In the novel's second chapter, Smith includes a prime example of Francie's childish world-making: her Sunday afternoon ritual. Each Sunday, Francie takes pains to transfigure her dour home environment into one of comfort and beauty. The fire escape becomes a reading nook:
Home at last and now it was the time she had been looking forward to all week: fire-escape-sitting time. She put a small rug on the fire-escape and got the pillow from her bed and propped it against the bars. [...]. Once out there, she was living in a tree. No one upstairs, downstairs or across the way could see her. But she could look out through the leaves and see everything.
Related Themes:
