Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary Literary Elements

Genre

Humor; Romance; Satire

Setting and Context

The novel is set in fashionable middle-class areas of London, UK, in the mid-1990s.

Narrator and Point of View

The novel is narrated as a diary by Bridget Jones; the point of view stays with Bridget.

Tone and Mood

The tone is self-effacing, cynical, and humorous; the mood oscillates between despair and joy.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Bridget Jones; antagonists include Daniel, Bridget's parents, Bridgets' parents' friends, Mark, Perpetua, and Tom.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is that Bridget wants to find contentment by becoming an idealized, faultless version of herself that would deny her conflicting desire to eat what she wants, do what she wants, and be who she really is.

Climax

The novel reaches its climax when Mark returns from Portugal to see that Julio is brought to justice and confesses to Bridget that he wanted to impress her because he is in love with her.

Foreshadowing

Daniel's sudden decision not to attend the Alconburys' Tarts and Vicars party foreshadows the revelation of his infidelity.

Understatement

Allusions

The novel makes allusions to Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, which features a wealthy male love interest whose surname is Darcy.

Imagery

Paradox

Parallelism

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Personification