Setting

Time setting

Published in 2015, the short story “Mink” by Marina Warner takes place across two different timelines. Part of the action takes place in the 1950s in the UK as indicated by the following references: “the crown Elizabeth II wore at her coronation” (ll. 26-27); “ ‘Since 1946. That’s a decade and it’s as good as it ever was.’ ” (ll. 66-67).

Part of the action takes place in the present day, as indicated by references to “refugee camps in Afghanistan” (l. 128), Google, and emails (ll. 125-130). 

Additionally, there are also references to the time in-between: “Years later, Ricky told me that this was the decisive moment for her.” (l. 92).

Physical setting

While the physical setting is not described in detail, we know the characters used to live in a windy part of the UK: “through the wind-whipped fens where we lived then” (l. 7).

Some of the action takes place in the kitchen, a symbol of traditional gender roles in 1950s society: “We’d clamp the clunky steel mangle to the kitchen table” (l. 30).

The story also includes an imaginary setting that helps us understand how the narrator imagined the world when she was young: “I saw queens and princes floating by, alighting on a mist-wreathed boat to sail, rudderless, across an enchanted lake towards a fairy palace on a spire-crowned island.” (ll. 24-26).

In the present-day element of the story, references to physical places hint at a globalised society, wars, inequity, and environmental concerns:

“There was a cottage industry somewhere in Vermont where we could send Donna’s fur coat...