Setting

Time and physical setting

The short story takes places in contemporary society as indicated by the numerous references to social media. The story spans over about a week from a Saturday (l. 19) to the next Sunday (l. 165). However, the narrator also refers to past events from his work as as photojournalist and from his childhood. The story is set somewhere in Canada as indicated by the reference to “British Columbia” (l. 80). There are also references to war zones, probably in the Middle East (ll. 55-57).

The main physical setting is the house the characters move in. The story starts with a lengthy description of the kitchen:

A microwave with unblistered buttons and walls still spatterless. The fridge unburdened, free of the-steeped-scents and mysterious residue of condiments collected in the ridges of the shelves. Swing open its door and it's as if the bulb was always on, like a welcoming porch light; the half-emptied boxes of kung pao chicken, spring rolls, and chow mein echo those larger ones labelled, stacked, and half unpacked in the bedroom, the hallway, the open-concept living room.  (ll. 2-8)

The choice of words is relevant for showing the main character’s perspective as he uses war-related words to describe it (allusions to blisters and spattered blood, for example). Another depiction mentions that: “We spend the day arranging furniture, emptying boxes, and filling rooms with framed paintings and prints, bric-a-brac, and boxes now useless” (ll. 121-122). This suggests that the characters have many possessions, but the narrator perhaps sees these things as pointless.

The story also gives a brief depiction of the couple's old apartment: “I saw our apartment progressively stripped of its familiar Ikea items, cardboard boxes slowly accumulating behind my fiancée.” (ll. 30-31) The narrator’s pers...