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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:
"Runaway" takes place in a small town in rural Canada. There, Carla and Clark live in a mobile home and operate a struggling farm where they board horses and teach riding lessons. From the beginning of the story, Munro establishes the physical isolation of their farm. The story opens with Carla anxiously watching for her neighbor's arrival. That their closest neighbor's house is "half a mile farther along the road than Clark and Carla’s" emphasizes the sparseness of the community. This physical isolation resembles the setting of much gothic fiction and produces the subsequent emotional isolation Carla experiences.
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