The Normal World in a Story

The normal world is the place, person, and state of being that the character will leave behind once he engages with the story's main conflict. This normality doesn't have to be healthy for the character, or even objectively good or desirable in any way. The setting in situation in which your story opens may be anything but normal. Perhaps most classically in many stories, the protagonist well indeed physically depart the normal world setting to embark on that famous quest of the hero's journey.