Setting
Time and physical setting
The short story “Weddings and Beheadings” by Hanif Kureishi takes place in a “war-broken city” (p. 207, l. 9), which we are told is the narrator’s “childhood home” (p. 207, ll. 9-10). Although the name of the city is never mentioned, references to an ongoing war, the presence of foreign journalists, and filmed beheadings suggest the story takes place somewhere in the Middle East (possibly Iraq or Afghanistan, since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were both ongoing at the time the story was published). Since the narrator mentions the Internet, we can say that the story takes place in modern times.
The main setting is the narrator’s home, while the narrator is waiting to be taken to another beheading. There are other places mentioned as well, such as the home of the narrator’s friend and, more importantly, the building where the executions take place.
