Answer:
Wide playgrounds
Step-by-step explanation:
From James Joyce's "A portrait of the artist as a young man", "wide playgrounds" portray the story's setting.
A story's setting is known to be the time and place of the story. In order words, it can be the geographical location of a place. Setting is a literary element used in novels, short stories, plays, etc.
The wide playgrounds give us the information of what one is to expect. This tells the reader that sports was going on. It gives the reader the location of where the story took place.