Setting

Part of the events described in the poem “Lemonade” by Raymond Carver takes place in the unnamed speaker’s home. Readers learn this when the speaker recounts their first meeting with Jim Sears, who was hired to build a bookcase. Later on, when Howard Sears covers for his son, we learn that the speaker’s home is in some sort of renovation, as Howard is there to paint the house.

The speaker and the Howard family live in a “small town” in the United States. The town is portrayed as a place where everyone knows each other and where interactions are rooted in small-town courtesy and familiarity: “it’s a small town, this town, a small world here”. This description suggests a sense of intimacy and shared experiences and also explains how the speake...