Setting
Such Is My Beloved is set in a modern city (easily identifiable as Toronto) in Canada during the Great Depression. It is set in a generic society so that the reader does not get caught up in the location, but rather focuses on the story and characters. The setting is bland so that the social problems in the novel are more readily recognized and are easily contrasted. The major turning points in the novel occur in two locations, the hotel room where Ronnie and Midge live in the inner city, and the cathedral where Dowling encounters the Bishop. Such Is My Beloved begins in the winter, and ends in the springtime. Because it is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, the city in which the novel takes place seems slightly run down and a bit dingy, but is for the most part a decent place to live. Where the hard times are most evident is in the downtown, where Ronnie and Midge live and poverty is readily recognized by the reader. The setting also functions to create an atmosphere of sympathy for the girls, and is often used to overshadow that they are prostitutes, but because times are hard, what they do to earn an income is eventually accepted by the reader.
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