Genre
Autobiography
Setting and Context
The action takes place in Wisconsin during the course of a few years.
Narrator and Point of View
Because this is an autobiography, the narrator is the writer and the events are recalled from the perspective of a first-person subjective pint of view.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood used here is a neutral one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is represented by the extreme religious beliefs the narrator's parents had and imposed on their children.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is an internal one and is between the narrator's desire to experiment something new and the desire to remain in a safe and familiar space.
Climax
The autobiography reaches its climax when the narrator returns back to his parents.
Foreshadowing
Craig's father was not in love with his wife and treated her as lesser than he was and saw her mainly as a servant. This is also used to foreshadow the way in which Craig will see his first girlfriend as just a slab of meat with the sole purpose of offering him sexual pleasure.
Understatement
Before leaving home, Craig claims that nothing could make him sin. This is quickly proven to be an understatement when the young boy becomes sexually attracted to another girl in the camp and the two of them start having sex.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The autobiography begins with the description of the narrator's home. Craig lived until his adolescent years isolated from the rest of the world, locked away in a remote area of a largely rural county where everyone had the same beliefs as his parents. The house is portrayed here as sitting in a grove, miles away from any form of civilization and protected from prying eyes by tall trees. This image is an extremely important one because it shows just how isolated Craig was and that he had no contact with the outside world.
Paradox
One of the main paradoxes present in the autobiography is the fact that the narrator loses his virginity at a Bible camp, the one place where he was supposed to learn more about God and how to be a better Christian.
Parallelism
A parallel is drawn between the narrator and his younger brother. This parallel is extremely important because it shows just how much a religious upbringing can affect a child's capability to adapt to the rest of the world.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The camp where the narrator spent his summer is used as a general term to make reference to the idea of freedom.
Personification
We have a personification in the sentence 'the snow smothered us in seconds".
