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
Part 2, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis:
The novel is set in southern Nebraska in the period between the 1880s and the early 1900s. Although the Divide is a fictionalized version of this region, the cultural mosaic Cather depicts reflects what this area was like at the time. There was an immigration boom in the United States in the late 19th century, as the country industrialized and gained a reputation as a place of limitless economic potential. Many immigrants were fleeing persecution in Europe (anti-Semitism, for instance, was on the rise). Others were simply hoping for a more economically prosperous life. The Bergsons, from Sweden, try to make their fortune alongside European immigrants from France, from the place we now call the Czech Republic, and elsewhere.