Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
America, 20th century
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrator
Tone and Mood
Determination, disappointment, ambition, sympathy, anticipation and frustration
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: An aspiring writer-male student
Major Conflict
The protagonist’s desire to win a writing contest at school
Climax
The protagonist's expulsion from school due to plagiarism
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Allusion to renowned literary writers such as Ernest Hemingway and their literary characters.
Imagery
Class governs the mannerism and interactions of the boys at the narrator’s school. The narrator is driven by the desire to be as classy as his wealthy peers at school.
Paradox
The narrator's detest of rhyme is paradoxical considering that renowned writers have employed it, and the narrator himself aspires to be a writer. Ordinarily, he would have strived to like it because he may be required to use it in the course of his writing career.
Parallelism
The narrator’s life (specifically writing career) is paralleled to the careers of other writers such as Ernest Hemingway.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The trophy denotes prestige.
Personification
Prizes are personified by being equated to females whom the boys must compete to win, be it in "sport, scholarship, music and writing."
