Setting

The short story “Crusader Rabbit” by Jess Mowry is set in Oakland, US. The story includes numerous direct references which help set the time setting. Names of brands like “Nike” (l. 8), “Airwalks” (l. 15), “Bic” (l. 70), “Band-Aid” (l. 58), “Campbell's soup” (l. 266), and “Jack Daniels” (l. 267) help Mowry suggest the story takes place in the US in the 1990s, when these brands were popular.

Moreover, the events take place during a day, possibly during the summer, as indicated by the “tar-and-rot smell…” in the city (l. 32).

Physical setting

The story includes direct references to places in the US, helping map the characters’ journey in Oakland and outside the city: “the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and then over the Golden Gate, headed north.” (ll. 202-203); “The Oakland morning fog had burned off hours before…” (l.21)

The references to the bad smell (l. 32) convey the idea that the city is polluted. The idea is enhanced by references to the dumpsters: “waist-deep in the dumpster, knee-deep in garbage” (l. 3); “…the stink seemed to surround him like a bronze-green cloud, wavering upward like the heat-ghosts from other dumpster lids along the narrow alley.” (ll. 12-14)

In the second part of the story, the characters leave the city and its dumpsters behind to drive to the sea. The city setting is contrasted by the setting next to the sea, which is idyllic, clean, and fresh:  

…the open countryside of gentle green hills spread out ...