Where It All Goes Down
Eatonville, Florida
We don't actually know that we're in Eatonville until the end of the story, but Hurston settles us in with the opening line:
It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G. and G. Fertilizer works for its support. (1)
In the 1930s, there weren't too many all black towns; then again, there weren't too many black female writers, either.
In the story, Eatonville is a small town on the up and up—there's a fertilizer factory where many of the townsmen work, there's a main store, and there's an ice cream parlor. Joe and Missie enjoy their modest life in a small, clean, and neat house; it's where they play together, eat together and sleep together. It's also where Missie abuses Joe's trust.
In a small town like Eatonville, everyone knows everyone, and people like to talk. There are also few places to escape. A great example is when Slemmons is caught by Joe in his bedroom:
Slemmons looked at the window, but it was screened. Joe stood out like a rough-backed mountain between him and the door. Barring him from escape, from sunrise, from life. (73)
Um, claustrophobia much? Eatonville's smallness also plays a role in keeping Missie from leaving Joe. Remember—she runs into his mother on her way out. Imagine that happening somewhere like New York or Los Angeles. In some ways, the small Floridian town is as important as any character is to the story's plot.