Setting

The short story “The World Ending in Fire” by Jan Carson takes place in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. 

The physical setting is mentioned when Lyndsey explains her mother’s belief about the end of the world: “There’d be flames and smoke and volcanoes going off all over East Belfast” (ll. 62-63). Moreover, several other clues help to offer authenticity to the setting, such as the reference to the Boots chain drugstore and the Woolworths supermarkets across the UK and Ireland. 

When it comes to the time setting, the story is most likely set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Troubles was a sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland between the unionists and nationalists. The unionists were a Protestant group with ties to Great Britain who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. 

In contrast, the nationalists were a Cath...