Setting

The time setting of “Suffer the Little Children” by Stephen King is not mentioned explicitly, but the references to the mimeograph (an early version of the photocopier) suggest that the author intended the events to be contemporary to the time of publishing (1972).

Physical setting

The main physical setting is Summer Street School (p. 7, l. 22) where Miss Sidley is a teacher. The text makes references to the classroom, the school yard and lavatory, and the mimeograph room. Additionally, the story also mentions Miss Sidley’s home where she has dinner alone, and the psychiatric ward.

...

Social setting

On the one hand, the social setting illustrates some typical aspects of real-life society such as: teacher-pupil interactions, madness, and the way society deals with extreme acts of cruelty (a teacher killing her students).

On the other hand, the social setting is eerie or supernatural as it explores the possibility of some creatures (maybe aliens) taking over the human bodies of children.

The teacher-pupil interaction shows how some teachers inspire fear in their students and how students act when the teachers are not watching them (they giggle, make signs, gossip, etc.)

Miss Sidley comes across as a typological character, illustrating the typology of the old, spinster teacher who dislikes children.

...