Setting

Physical setting

The events presented in the short story “The Bench” by Richard Rive take place in November (p. 213, l. 13) in Johannesburg, South Africa (p. 213, l. 14). The action takes place during apartheid. In the first part of the story, the events take place next to the speakers’ platform, where a crowd of people listens to speeches on discrimination and oppression: “Karlie stared around him at the sea of faces. Every shade of color was represented, from shiny ebony to the one or two whites in the crowd” (p. 213, ll. 17-20). 

In the second part of the story, the events take place in the train station: 

He saw the station in a new light. Here was a mass of human beings, black, white and some brown like himself. Here they mixed with one another, yet each mistrusted the other with an unnatura...