Setting
The short story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myersis set in Harlem, New York, on 145th Street, during a shooting incident which probably takes place over an hour.…
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Physical setting
The main elements of the physical setting are 145th Street, outside and inside Eez-On-In restaurant, and inside an apartment building.
145th Street is described as police cars begin to arrive, looking for a gunman. This also leads to a crowd gathering on the street:
Some more cop cars came and before you turned around there’s about seven cars and a whole mess of people milling around 145th Street trying to figure out what was going on. Then the kids started coming around and everybody was looking up at the windows where the cops were looking. (p. 18, ll. 7-13)…
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Social setting
The social setting illustrates aspects of life in Harlem and the relationship between those living in that community and the police.
The opening conversation about fighters like Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis suggests that the events might take place in the 1960s or 1970s. It also suggests that young men then were passionate about boxing, which is a combat sport.
The mention of one of the narrator’s friends, Willie, possibly having something illegal on him, s…
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Literary period
The short story is a post-modernist literary text. Most literary texts written after World War II to the present day are co…
