When Byron Snopes looks for a "negro" to sell him a car for making his getaway after robbing the bank, he searches in "a street occupied by negro stores and barber shops," where he "inquires" for the man "from door to door" (272). No other details about this area of Jefferson are provided, but we locate the street in the same northwestern part of the town as the Negro district in other novels and stories.
Washington, D.C., is where Devries goes to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II. (It is also where Senator Clarence Snopes aspires to go, as a Congressman, but V.K. Ratliff makes sure he never gets there.
On the eve of World War II, Charles Mallison travels to "Europe" with two Harvard classmates; the two decide to stay in Paris, but on his own Charles "sees a little of Europe on a bicycle" (230). He mentions "Britain, France, Italy," but emphasizes what he saw of the "composed and collective hysteria" in the face of coming events, including "too many soldiers" and the "Maginot Line" - the fortifications that the French built to defend themselves against a German invasion (231).
Mr. and Mrs. Mallison travel to Miami during the Christmas holiday "to spend a week looking at horses" (229). In 1937 they would probably have been attending the thoroughbred races at Hialeah Park Race Track, which opened in the 1920s and became famous - for its flamingos as well as its horse races - after a reconstruction in 1932.
Charleston, South Carolina, is an old Southern city that played a key role in the Civil War. The Saint Cecelia society was founded in the 18th century, and famous for its elegant, upper class balls.
