Setting

Physical setting

The physical setting for the short story “Butterflies” by Patricia Grace is somewhere in the countryside. The grandparents live in a house with a garden. When the grandfather sends the granddaughter off to school, he accompanies her “down the path (…) and out onto the footpath. This suggests they live some way off the main road. The garden where the grandparents tend to the cabbages and beans is an important food source for the family. 

The story takes place during a single day. In the beginning, as the granddaughter leaves for school, it is presumably morning, and afternoon when she returns. The reference to the supermarket suggests the story takes place in the second half of the 20th century.

The exact place and time setting of the story ...