In Still Life with Woodpecker, Robbins traverses human history from the modern world, back through older versions of civilization to reconnect the reader to humans’ basic animal nature. Throughout the text, he contrasts the modern world, which he characterizes as capitalistic and insincere, with the reality of the animal human body to show the distance between people’s essential natures and the modern world.

In the opening chapters, Robbins firmly establishes the modern setting by repeatedly calling attention to the time period as “last quarter of the twentieth century” (3). This usage places the setting in the context of centuries, as part of a much longer history, while also establishing its specific context in the 1970s-1980s in the US. Through the juxtaposition of Leigh-Cheri and Bernard, he also draws attention to current events during that time. They are from two different generations—she is a child of the 1970s, while he took active part in the political activism of the 1960s. Leigh-Cheri is naïve and idealistic, because of both her age and the era she was born into. Through Leigh-Cheri, Robbins showcases that generation’s preoccupation with wellness, coupled with an overall feeling of optimism.