The focus on these characters' circumscribed lives is so intense that their towns seem to exist in some vague mid-20th century, almost out of time.

There is no future or freedom in the circumscribed life and the only other life is complete rejection of the rules.

This strong desire to retire to a less circumscribed life abroad was a constant presence throughout the 1880s.

A strangely circumscribed life has produced a sadly circumscribed art.

From an early age Ms. Mason rebelled against the circumscribed life of the farm.

Also on the program is "The Ends of Things," about a man's circumscribed life.

After the circumscribed life of Robot City, he felt free.

Russel's days become less eventful, but lesser events, as they do in circumscribed lives, take on greater significance.

It was a circumscribed but warmly content life, disrupted forever by war and the arrival of the Germans.

So the whole endeavor becomes one of expanding horizons and breaking down barriers for young people who in many cases have led circumscribed lives.