Setting

Time and physical setting

The short story “Solo Dance” written by Jayne Anne Phillips was published in 1979 and it is probably meant to be read as contemporary to the time when it was written.

It is unclear over what time the events in the story take place. Readers are told that the woman “went to the hospital every other day” (l. 2) and that her father spent six weeks in the hospital (l. 13). This suggests that the woman might have been with her father throughout his entire stay in the hospital.

It is also possible that some events described in the story have happened in the past and that the woman remembers them at a later time: “She kept hearing his voice in the words now even though he wasn’t saying them.” (ll. 6-7).

The events take place in the hospital where the main character’s father is being treated for cancer: “She went to the hospital every other day, sitting for hours beside his bed.” (ll. 2-3); “She put lather in a hospital cup and he got up to shave in the mirror.” (l. 11).

Social setting

The social setting deals with several aspects related to family relationships, as well as with illness, divorce, and childhood experiences.

Family relationships

The social setting approaches the topic of family relationships through the dynamic between the woman and her father, but also through her father’s relationship with her mother.

The story suggests that the woman’s relationship with her parents is distant: “She hadn’t been home in a long time” (l. 1). However, the woman comes back home to care for her father, who i...