While this central idea may be universal, it is imperative to the story. The story takes place in Harlem, New York and is assumed to be set in the 1950s due to the information that they both went to war, but the specific war is not specified. The setting is a real and particular setting too; it's not vague. The background is important to the plot because it provides essential information about the structure of these characters and the time period in which the story takes place. The characters in this story are both African American and grew up in a very notorious and difficult residentially segregated area. Throughout the setting, the descriptions are very precise helping the reader understand the intensity of the environment. It talks about the women of color who have been beaten and who walk the streets, into the houses and apartments in which they created memories of adolescence that are no longer present. In the article "A Brother's Perilous Journey: James Baldwin and the Rigors of Community" by Keith Clark, he explains the "coded" acceptance of the reality of the space in which the characters lived and of the results they face in their neighborhood. An area predominantly occupied by African Americans, which provides broader historical and societal information about the race.