Genre
Novel.
Setting and Context
Sierra Leone. 21st century.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
Insecure, intimidating, harrowing, agonizing, and resilient
Protagonist and Antagonist
Villagers are the protagonists. Antagonists include the backers of war and the exploitative miners.
Major Conflict
Resuming ordinary life after a detrimental war and the health-threatening mining
Climax
The reappearance of villagers in Imperi after the termination of the war.
Foreshadowing
Moiwa foretells other villagers’ homecoming.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The manipulative mining in Imperi, which is headed by egotistical whites, is an allusion to neo-colonialism.
The novel alludes to the historical civil war that ensued in Sierra Leone.
Imagery
The images of departed persons in the village are poignant, and they offer an antithesis to the nature of civil war.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
The narrative of Kadie’s considerations commences with the pronoun 'she.'
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Guns are synonymous with war.
Personification
Skulls are personified.
