Genre
Fantasy, YA Fiction
Setting and Context
A small fishing village on Rollrock Island in the 1800s and 1900s
Narrator and Point of View
The novel is narrated in 3rd person point of view but it mainly follows the antihero Missakaela.
Tone and Mood
There is a general mysterious air throughout the novel given the fantastical nature of the story. The tone is generally light-hearted but there are very dark undertones.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main character, Missakaela, is more of a tragic antihero than a protagonist. There is also no one main antagonist, instead this is a collective responsibility shared by most of Rollrock Island.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the novel comes about when Missakaela starts to sell seal women as brides to the men of Rollrock Island. This leads to tension between the men and the original women of Rollrock Island, as well as leads to the uprising by the seal women.
Climax
The climax of the novel occurs when the seal women and their children decide to no longer be oppressed by the men of Rollrock Island and overpower the men to take back their seal skins so they can return to sea.
Foreshadowing
When Missakaela first has a baby with the seal man she summons, she soon realizes that the baby needs to be returned to the sea. She does so even though she is rather dismayed at the thought. This foreshadows the later return of the seal women and their children to the sea.
Understatement
The plight of the villagers is what is mainly focused on in the later parts of the novel. However, this understates the unjust actions that they have taken against Missakaela.
Allusions
The forceful keeping of the seal women on land by the men of Rollrock Island is an allusion to slavery. The men are keeping the seal women against their own free will.
Imagery
The skins of the seal people is used as a form of visual imagery. The unseen chains that shackle the seal people to land are seen in the seal skins.
Paradox
Missakaela initially sells the seal women to the men of the village in an act of vengeance for the way they treated her in the past. However, by doing so, she becomes no better than they were and history repeats itself.
Parallelism
None
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Rollrock Island is a synecdoche for the village even though the village is but a small part of the island.
Personification
The seal women are a personification of an unattainable, mystical beauty that entrances the men of Rollrock Island.
