Setting

Physical setting

The short story “The Lamb” by Andrea Carter is set in a town in Ireland: “The town is quiet, bereft of traffic ever since it was bypassed by the motorway to Galway a few years back.” (ll. 11-12). 

The action takes place around St. Patrick’s Day, an important Irish holiday. The past events are centered around a St. Patrick’s Day party which happened 32 years ago. The narrator returns to her home town “three weeks since St Patrick’s Day” (l. 30) 32 years later. 

The narrator revisits several landmarks in the town which have an emotional impact on her. She initially passes by the red brick cottage with the old barn behind which used to be Ruth’s house, and she experiences anxiety at the sight of it: Her han...