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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
My Name is Asher Lev begins in the 1950s and stretches through the 1960s. Asher belongs to a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn called the Ladover Hasidic community, modeled after the real-life Chabad Lubavitch community in Crown Heights.
Notably, the story takes place soon after World War II, meaning that Asher and his community are living in the shadow of the Holocaust, as well as in a moment when Jews are being persecuted all over Europe and in Russia, including Orthodox Jews like the Lev family. Because it is such a critical moment for the global Jewish community and community leaders like Aryeh and the Rebbe fear for the future of the Jewish people, extra pressure is on Asher to serve the community's faith mission instead of becoming an artist.
Asher's adult years are partially set in Europe, where he escapes to work on his art. This plot point is crucial because in his younger years, Asher refused to go to Vienna with his family so he could stay in Brooklyn to make art, which created the beginnings of the rift between him and his parents. But as an adult, he seeks refuge in places like Italy and France that offer him opportunities to break away from his community's expectations and improve his craft.
Related Themes:
