Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
The book is set in the early 20th century in Chicago.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative by an unnamed narrator
Tone and Mood
Poignant, buoyant, stirring, heartbreaking
Protagonist and Antagonist
The unnamed narrator is the protagonist of the book.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that the unnamed narrator gets involved in a boat accident that hinders her possibilities in life.
Climax
The climax is when the narrator finally gets married and gives birth to a daughter whom she learns to love.
Foreshadowing
The narrator’s failure to succeed in her artwork is foreshadowed by her disability caused by the boat accident.
Understatement
Disability is understated in the text. For instance, the author blames her failures on disability. On the contrary, disability is not inability, which should have motivated the narrator to chase her dreams until the end.
Allusions
The story alludes to life challenges that hinder an individual from attaining her full potential.
Imagery
The narrator uses sight imagery to describe the apartment in Chicago where she lived in her childhood. Through this imagery, readers can visualize the happening events and the lives of the people residing in the apartment.
Paradox
The main paradox is that the narrator hates herself because she is a failure. On the contrary, failure in the narrator's life is an image that could be deconstructed.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Disability is a metonymy for inability. The narrator believes that her failures are linked to her disability.
Personification
N/A
