Setting

Physical setting

The events in “They're Not Your Husband” by Raymond Carver take place in a 24-hour coffee shop at the edge of an unnamed town, where Doreen works night shifts, as well as in Doreen’s and Earl’s home. The coffee shop serves as a place of social gathering, and it triggers Earl’s internal conflict. Earl then attempts to solve the conflict in the comfort of his own home, by getting his wife to lose weight and using a weighing scale to monitor her weight. His satisfaction at how things progress at home is contrasted with how his solution fails to produce the desired outcome in the external environment (the coffee shop) which triggered his internal conflict.

There are not many clues in the story to help establish the time setting. The reference to Earl owning a television and the popularity of coffee shops suggest that the story takes place in the late 20th century, probably somewhere in the 1960s or early 1970s, given that the story was first published in 1973.

Social setting

The social setting is very important, as it deals with ...