Where It All Goes Down
The Woods
The small, unnamed town in the middle of nowhere—and the creepy woods that surround it—shapes the plot of "Death in the Woods."
Midwest Madness
The narrator hails from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. A lot of us can probably relate to this. Like most small towns, this place has a close-knit community that isn't always friendly to outsiders. Remember when "no one spoke to" Jake even though he approached them and "sat for a few minutes" (1.6)? Alright, so Jake might deserve that kind of reaction, but that's not the point. The point is that these townsfolk have formed such a tight-knit group that no one else could fit inside if they tried.
This affects Mrs. Grimes, too. On the day of her death, she walks down a road, struggling, but "people drive right down [...] and never notice" her (1.3). Even the butcher, who treats her rather nicely, is "annoyed" by her presence and gives her food mostly out of spite (2.13). You can come up with countless defenses for these actions, but it's hard to argue that the townsfolk treat Mrs. Grime with dignity.
To Grimes-Mother's House We Go
It's no coincidence that the Grimes family lives miles outside town. This is a great metaphor for their relationship with the rest of the world: although they make frequent contact with outside society (little of it friendly), they remain fundamentally separated from it. This effect is even more pronounced in Mrs. Grime's case: her "way of getting along" is to remain silent and burrow within herself (3.2). She might try to escape, but to where? The woods are a very perilous place to be.
In fact, the forest is way different than the two locales we previously mentioned. Crazy things seem to happen there: the narrator's own "half-uncanny, mystical adventure with dogs" included (5.12). If there's anywhere that's a fitting place to leave the world, it's these woods. All of these factors come together to create a great deal of tension and mystery in the story. It also helps us feel empathy for Mrs. Grimes—she is stuck between a rock and a hard place, separated from society by a forest that transforms men into beasts and dogs into wolves.