Drenched in Light

The setting of the story resembles Eatonville due to its proximity to Orlando and Maitland. A story’s setting speaks to the community that inhabits it, and Eatonville, known for being a historically Black town, represents the racial divide in America, as well as the sense of safety the Potts feel in their home. However, Hurston does not directly state the town’s name and shows that the surrounding community consists of both white and Black people. When Isis enters the larger town, she is exposed to both races and captures everyone’s attention. Before this, Hurston confines Isis to the landscape directly outside her home, which causes Isis to have a limited perspective of the world. While inside the bounds of the fence, Isis interacts with a small group of people, and it is not until she follows the marching band to the carnival that she has the opportunity to indulge in new experiences.

Hurston’s use of dialect is widespread in many of her stories and novels, which results from her anthropological expertise. In “Drenched in Light,” dialect illustrates class and racial differences between characters like Grandma Potts and