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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
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The novel is set in 1860s Massachusetts during the Civil War. The town remains unnamed, which evokes a sense of generality; the same joys and trials that befall the March family likely happened to many others of their station. Much of Part I revolves around the March family home. The home represents not only the domestic sphere but also the moral one. Chapters 1 and 23, the first and last chapters of Volume I, begin at Christmastime. Circular structure creates a sense of completeness and marks the passage of one year in the girls' adolescence. While the girls hold down the home front, learning how to be "little women" from their exemplar, Marmee, their father serves as a chaplain in the war.
Related Themes:
