America

America is depicted as a place marked by normalized violence, especially gun violence and mass shootings, and by racial inequities that define who belongs and who does not belong. For Soot, America is inseparable from family land, heritage, and the legacy of slavery, creating a sense of being rooted mixed with confinement. For the narrator and Dylan, it is a site of danger and psychic weight that they cannot escape, no matter their mobility, education, or linguistic skill. America represents both home and the inescapable source of trauma.

Europe

Europe is presented as a generalized refuge, a place where the characters imagine they might escape the violence and racial pressures of America. Specific distinctions between countries like France, Italy, or Scotland are largely irrelevant; the continent functions as a single, idealized space of relative safety, leisure, and aesthetic pleasure. For the narrator and his companions, Europe is less...