A Slight Trick of the Mind Literary Elements

Novel

The story is set in the year 1947 in a farmhouse located in Sussex.

The narration is told from the third-person point of view.

Mindful, optimistic, calm and resilient

The protagonist of the story is Sherlock Holmes, an older man whose memory is deteriorating.

The major conflict occurs when Sherlock's memory starts to dwindle, and he cannot effectively write his journals because he does not remember anything due to old age.

The climax occurs when Sherlock starts to give up after realizing that he cannot remember anything. Therefore, he stops writing his regular journals and pays more attention to his failing health.

Sherlock's loss of memory foreshadows his last days on earth. In the present situation, Sherlock does not even know who he is and his purpose for the living, signifying his departure soon from the face of the earth.

As he travels home, the rowdy men seated next to Sherlock in the train understates him as a normal citizen without knowing that he is a highly recognized veteran. He played a critical role in the military world.

The bee stings are used to allude to endurance and perseverance in life. In the forty-four years that Sherlock farmed bees, he got stung 7,816 times, but he never died. However, every time he received a new stung, he learned new tactics of handling the bees.

The images of the scars of Hiroshima in Japan dominate the book, which depicts the sense of sight to readers.

The main paradox is when Sherlock decides to chew the Jamaican cigar whenever he fails to get a match stick.

The story of the Great War parallels the story of the scars of the Hiroshima bombing that killed many people dead and scores injured.

The 'Great War' is a metonym that refers to the devastating effects of war on humanity. A good example is the scars of Hiroshima that were felt for a long period.

The bees are personified to having human abilities to decide who should enter their territory and when the portal is broken, they strike.