Genre
Fiction, Novel.
Setting and Context
New Mexico and Albuquerque.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrator
Tone and Mood
Mesmerizing, unpredictable, outrageous
Protagonist and Antagonist
The boys are the protagonists, whereas their father is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The boys rising above their father's abuse and the bad influence that makes them susceptible to drug abuse.
Climax
The narrator's determination to "get us free" requires him to expel his father from his (the narrator's) being.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
The father understates his flaws by making the boys believe that the mother went against him and the boys, resulting in a divorce. He avoids taking responsibility for the part he plays in the breakdown of the matrimony.
Allusions
Allusions to demons through the utilization of exorcism. The father’s influence is comparable to unpleasant demons.
Imagery
The divorce destabilizes the boys and denies them the chance of a happy, drug-free, and abuse-free home.
Paradox
The father’s act of encouraging his sons to disrespect and hate their mother is a fatherly paradox.
Parallelism
The narrator's life is comparable to his father's because he becomes aggressive and gets into the temptation of drugs. He is emulating his manipulative father.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"War" denotes acrimonious divorce
Personification
N/A
