Setting+and+911

Setting: Suburban/Rural Town in upstate Emersonville, New York. Post September 11th.

The setting of //Goldengrove// has a close relationship to the characters of the novel. Most of the upstate New York town in which Nico lives is made up of families who originated in New York City. "Ever since 9/11, yuppie families had been fleeing the city, buying houses, around the lake. They said they had to get used to it, but they'd learned to love the country: no cell phones, no BlackBerries, a slower way of life" (Prose 9). These individuals that left the city life were looking to get away from the fast pace city life, and to get away from the destruction caused by 9/11. However, Margaret's death shakes the town and reminds everyone that they cannot completely escape from death. Francine Prose specifically chose to include 9/11 to create a greater understanding of the townspeople and their mentality. The significance of 9/11 wraps itself among the words in the novel and reminds the readers that death is a inescapable reality.