Old Ox

Old Ox is a fictional town in the state of Georgia. Old Ox is the novel’s primary setting. The novel takes place in the time period immediately the Civil War. This period is called Reconstruction. The Union Army arrives in Old Ox and frees the slaves there, in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation. When George then hires two freedmen as paid farm workers, the other townspeople react with strong disapproval.

Walker Farm

George and Isabelle Walker own a house and a large area of land adjacent to it. Towards the beginning of the novel, George decides that he wants to cultivate that land into a peanut farm. He hires two freedmen—Prentiss and Landry—as paid laborers. Disapproval in the town grows to such an extreme that some townspeople set the peanut farm on fire. The resulting fire then spreads and burns down most of Old...