Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
Native Canadian reservation of Kitamaat, 500 meters north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in the 1980s
Narrator and Point of View
Lisa Hill, first-person point of view
Tone and Mood
Foreboding and mysterious
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Lisamarie | Antagonists: Lisa's various bullies and vices
Major Conflict
The major conflict is the one that goes on inside of Lisa: her confusion and resistance to her spiritual gifts.
Climax
As this is not a linear story, there is not really one defining climax.
Foreshadowing
The appearance of the red-haired little man foreshadows death or other sorts of trouble for Lisa or her family.
Understatement
Lisa admits to being slightly spiritual which is an understatement that she makes to herself because of her fear of the gift that she possesses in being able to communicate with the tree spirits and the spirit world.
Allusions
Elvis Presley is often alluded to as a beacon of Western culture and the modern life Lisa's parents wish to live. Lisamarie is named after his daughter.
Imagery
The description of the little man with his "mossy green" eyebrows, his face "dry like cedar bark," and his skin with "ants skittering between the cracks" brings the tree spirit to life in a horrifying way.
Paradox
Lisa—along with the enlistment of Frank, Cheese, and Pooch—tries to help her brother by following his every move. Paradoxically her concern just annoys him and does nothing to prevent his later disappearance.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Lisa's gift and her mother's, as both were born with the natural ability to communicate with the spirits.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Tab complains that Lisa is in "a mood" to mean that she is in a negative state of mind.
Personification
Winter is given human attributes when Ma-ma-oo describes it as a person who loves Kitamaat so much that it does not want to leave.
