Genre
fantasy, alternate reality
Setting and Context
Japan, the year 1984, or in the parallel reality 1Q84
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: omniscient;
Point of view: third person
Tone and Mood
Tone: neutral
Mood: tense, nightmarish
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Aomame and Tengo; Antagonist: Sakigake cult, the little people from Air Chrysalis
Major Conflict
The main protagonist Aomame gets stuck in traffic, and decides to take a shortcut via the underground subway. This leads her into the alternate reality and into the world of 1Q84.
Climax
Aomame and Tengo finally meet on the playground where they both observed the two moons in agreement to escape the world of 1Q84.
Foreshadowing
"I know you've got something inside you that you need to write about, but you can't get it to come out."
-Komatsu making an observance of Tengo's hidden talent of writing, foreshadows his decision to rewrite "Air Chrysalis" and make it a grand public success.
Understatement
"Perhaps she had nodded to Tengo before hanging up the receiver. Unfortunately, though, body language generally fails to have its intended effect on the phone."
Allusions
The entire novel is an allusion to the Orwell's famous novel called "1984".
Imagery
Visual imagery of the creatures called "the little people" who are described as entities that existed from the beginning of existence, and which are neither good nor bad.
Paradox
"The man was a high-powered operator, but also prone to overwork. He earned a high salary, but he couldn't use it now that he was dead."
"Tengo listened to the silence..."
Parallelism
"Something's wrong with the world, or something's wrong with me: one or the other."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"Tengo was, for Komatsu, little more than an extension of Komatsu himself, another arm or leg."
Personification
"The silence seemed to be trying to tell him something about itself."
