Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Written in the context of coming of age, inequality, race and crime.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Violent, rebellious, angry, fascinating
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of the story is Andrea Durcal.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that Andrea becomes a spoiled child with no respect to children coming from low-income families. Andrea is rude, violent and arrogant because she comes from a wealthy family.
Climax
The climax comes when Andrea and her cousin, Victor, expose a prostitute woman who is later raped and murdered. The actions of these kids are unacceptable, and they become the outcasts of society because no one wants to be associated with them.
Foreshadowing
The death of the woman who owns a shop is foreshadowed by Andrea and Victor’s ignorance about poverty.
Understatement
Poverty is understated. Even though Andrea is a spoiled rich girl, she later encounters the reality of abject poverty when she visits the local townspeople.
Allusions
The story alludes to the disparities between the rich and the poor.
Imagery
The imagery of poverty aids readers to see what drives the woman shopkeeper into prostitution. Similarly, the imagery plays a role in helping readers to comprehend the extent of poverty the townspeople are subjected to.
Paradox
The main paradox is that Andrea is ignorant, and she thinks that poor people live in miserable conditions by choice.
Parallelism
The death of Victor is parallel to Andrea’s decision to own up for the woman’s murder.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Poverty is personified as humiliating.
