South America

The stories are all set in Central / South America (the actual location is never specified). Several aspects of life in this part of the world play key roles in the various stories: the area's deep roots in Latin culture; the area's tendency towards intense heat; its pervasive history of military influence on politics; and the tendency of writers who live and work there to employ the technique of magic realism in their work (see "Themes - Magic and Mystery").

Macondo

The fictional South American town of Macondo is the setting for one of the collection's longer short stories, "Big Mama's Funeral." By implication, and because several characters from other stories appear in this story (particularly the colonel and Father Anthony Isabel), there is the sense that many of the other stories also take place in Macondo.

Small Towns

In many cases, the communities in which the stories...