Setting

Other than the fact that the story appears to be set in the United States, there is a lack of specificity in the setting. The town is unnamed and could be anywhere. Also, there are few clues as to when the story takes place. It was published in 1983 but could as easily be set in 1963 or 2003. It seems to take place within a kind of bubble, without reference to anything larger than itself. The only clue comes when Ann refers to the black man and woman as Negroes, a term not much used to describe black people after the 1960s.

The lack of extraneous detail has the effect of making the stark drama and tragedy of the story stand out in sharper relief. As Carver once said in an interview with David Applefield: “My stories take place on a personal level as opposed to a larger political or...