Setting

The time setting of “Lost Boys” by Deborah Moggach is indicated by references to Lily posing in her youth for Augustus John, a painter who died in 1961. At the time of the narrated events, Lily is already an older grandmother.

Physical setting

Elements of the physical setting are the narrator’s house, Lily’s house, the narrator’s parents’ house, and the swimming pond at Hampstead Heath. The narrator’s house is not described but only mentioned. However, Lily’s apartment and the house of the narrator’s parents are presented in contrast: “She lived in a cluttered mansion flat opposite the British Museum, and ate in the sandwich bar downstairs.” (p. 35, ll. 2-3);

My own parent’s house was, as always, more comfortable and appropriate than Lily’s flat. We’d go down for Sunday lunch and the children could toddle across the safe green lawns of my...

...

Social setting

Aspects related to social class are hinted through the comparisons between Lily and the narrator’s parents. Lily is a struggling artist, living in a small apartment, who has spent her youth relying on sponsors for her art. The narrator’s parents are typical of the British middle-class; they live in Kent, and they have a well-stocked fridge and a comfortable big house.

The story explores aspects related to marriage through most of the characters. The narrator’s parents probably have a typical marriage, and there are no references to their feelings for each other. Lily, on the other hand, had several marriages and relationships which suggest less respect for traditional ideas about the marriage institution and a passionate love life.

The narrator and her husband illustrate marriage conflicts because of their in-laws (but unusually, in this case, the characters prefer their in-laws to their own parents).

...