Setting

Physical setting

The short story “The Escape” by Qaisra Shahraz takes place in Manchester, England, and Pakistan, where Samir goes to Lahore and the village where his parents are buried. 

In Manchester, Samir lives in a “large five bedroom detached house” (p. 2, l. 18). After his wife’s death, however, he keeps mostly to a single room, the master bedroom, and “his new favourite spot, the chair at the dining table next to the window and radiator” (p. 2, ll. 21-22). This suggests a narrowing of his universe which comes with old age and the sorrow caused by the loss of his wife. 

The loss of his wife has left him feeling homeless. Throughout the story, Samir moves through physical settings, “escaping” from one town and country to another, searching for a pl...