Setting

In what follows, you can read useful information regarding the setting of the short story “Spoil the Child” by Howard Fast.

Time setting

Published in 1938, the short story is set sometime after the American Civil War, in the prairie. The historical context of the aftermath of the war is indicated by a direct reference:

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Physical setting

The physical setting of the prairie is described from the child narrator's perspective: “…the prairie was just a roll of yellow and brown, a thread of cloud above it. It frightened me to be alone on the prairie.”; “I saw a coyote. He stood like a dog and watched me. An antelope hopped close, and I might have shot at him.”

The sky is also an important element in the physical setting, as it can be associated with the boy’s innocence: “When I came back to the fire, I glanced up at the sky. It was an immense bowl of hot blue, bare except for a single buzzard that turned slowly, like a fish swimming.”

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Social setting

The social setting illustrates several aspects of the American life in the second half of the 19th century, following the American Civil War. The Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865. The war was fought between eleven southern states who wanted the US to be a confederation and Unionists, who wanted the US to be a single country. The main cause of the split was the issue of slavery; the confederates wanted the continuation of slavery while the unionists wanted its abolition.

First of all, the story depicts the effects of war on men who have fought in battle through David’s father who could not stay in a single place afterwards: “Sometimes she said that the war had done it, that after the war between the North and the South, men were either broken or had to keep moving, like pa. Always west.”

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