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Paradox
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:
Beneath a Scarlet Sky takes place primarily in Milan, Italy from 1943 to 1945, during the height of World War II. Although Benito Mussolini held fascist control over Italy, the latter half of the war saw a shift in power between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Succumbing to Hitler’s overrule, Mussolini became known as a puppet ruler, effective in name only. Italy held a unique position across Europe during World War II because of its two competing fascist leaders. After unsuccessful military campaigns in Africa, Greece, and the Soviet Union, many in the Italian military actually joined the Allied powers in 1943, crumbling Mussolini’s dictatorship and the unified Italian power.
Sullivan’s novel explores how the political and environmental European landscape changed drastically throughout the 1940s, specifically in Italy. In Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Pino, a native Italian, witnesses the downfall of the society he once knew, and throughout the novel setting becomes a crucial feature of Pino’s existence. Not only does Pino view Italy from the outside looking in—when he moves to Switzerland to help relocate Jewish refugees to safer land—but he views Italy from the inside looking out, when he switches course to act as personal driver for a high-ranking Nazi general. Throughout the novel, readers gain access to multiple settings across Italy and Switzerland, as Sullivan explores how land and human movement defined the state of war in Italy during World War II.
Related Themes:
