The British Economy The Great Depression devastated the United Kingdom along with the rest of the industrialized world. In the 1930s, Britain’s traditional industrial base began to decline. Coal, shipping, and cotton production were all down significantly from preWorld War I levels. Throughout the inter-war period, unemployment never fell below one million, or one worker…
Tag: SETTING
The Spinoza of Market Street – Setting
Spinoza The protagonist of this story has devoted his life to the study of the Dutch-Jewish philosopher, Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677), particularly his major work, Ethics. Although Spinoza finished writing Ethics in 1675, it was never published during his lifetime, in part due to its controversial nature and the censure of religious authorities. Spinoza is…
The Pagan Rabbi – Setting
The Three Denominations of Judaism There are three main denominations of Judaism—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Orthodox Judaism maintains the strictest observance of traditional Jewish law and ritual. (Hasidism is an even more traditional practice of Orthodox Judaism.) Conservative Judaism, while maintaining most of these traditions, concedes to some modernization of the observance of Jewish law….
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka – Setting
Socio-Economic Background For most of Kafka’s lifetime, his home town of Prague was a Czech city within a German-speaking empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Only at the end of World War I did that Empire disappear, leading to the creation of an independent Czechoslovakia. But in 1912, when Kafka was writing ‘ The Metamorphosis,” the Czechs…
The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara – Setting
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s African Americans began taking a more active stance in the 1950s to end discrimination in the United States. The 1952 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education ofTopeka successfully challenged segregation in public schools. Then civil rights leaders launched the Montgomery bus boycott to end segregation on…
Leaving the Yellow House – Setting
A Prosperous Nation? For many Americans, the 1950s was a decade of economic prosperity. Unemployment and inflation remained low, usually below five percent. By the middle of the decade, more than sixty percent of Americans earned a middle-class income, which at that time was a salary between $3,000 and $ 10,000 a year. The number…
Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf – Setting
World War I Before World War II, the First World War was simply known as the Great War. As the twentieth century began, Germany, France, England, Russia, and Austria-Hungary intensely guarded their international territorial and economic interests, even to the point of threatening war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist in 1914…
Heart of Darkness – Setting
Apocalypse Now The 1978 film Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is based on Conrad’s story ”Heart of Darkness.” While Conrad’s story is set in the Congo in the 1890s, and is a commentary on imperialism in the form of Belgian colonization, Coppola’s film is set during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, and…
Goodbye, Columbus – Setting
Jewish Holidays Toward the end of the story, Neil and Brenda agree to spend the weekend of the Jewish holidays together. Specifically, it is during the Jewish High Holy Day of Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year and usually occurs in mid to late September. As the end of summer had indicated the…
Fountains in the Rain – Setting
The Japanese Economy After World War II, Japan made a rapid and impressive economic recovery. Many factors contributed to the country’s success. Instead of concentrating on producing inexpensive textiles sold to other Asian countries, Japan began to produce advanced technology for a world market. Japan’s workforce was skilled and highly motivated. The government also cooperated…