Setting

The physical setting of the short story “The Jam Maker” by Huma Qureshi is a village in Britain, probably in England. This is seen by the typically British pastimes, such as the afternoon tea, the pub, and the cricket club. Also, the fruit that the narrator mentions, such as strawberries and gooseberries, are present in Britain. 

The village is described as an idyllic place, where the narrator and the father feel at home: 

I liked where we lived. I liked it very much. I liked our quiet village and its tidy row of stores on the main street and its stone cottages and the mere and the green and the cricket club. (ll. 74-75)

However, for the narrator’s mother, the village is an oppressive place where she is alone among strangers and where her “heart is hurting” (l. 52). She simply does not feel at home.

An important element of the physical setting is the woods where th...