Genre
Drama, comedy, existenialtist
Setting and Context
1980s, Tokyo (Japan)
Narrator and Point of View
Different narrator for every story
1st Person Narration
Tone and Mood
Tone is usually light, with unintentional humor
Mood varies with story but is usually has undertones of dissatisfaction with life
Protagonist and Antagonist
Prtoagonist is usually the narrator in the stories, except for 'Lederhosen' where protagonist is the mother, Antagonists change with every story
Major Conflict
Major conflict in all stories lie with the protagonists, who all are wary of changes happening around them and respond to them in different ways creating the final resolution
Climax
The point of highest tension is in 'Sleep', where the narrator is attacked by some people and has no way to defend herself or to escape.
Foreshadowing
In 'Sleep', the narrator is forewarned that people have been attacked in the area where she used to lounge. She is later attacked in the same place.
Understatement
In 'Barn Burning', the mysterious boyfriend says he liked burning barns, but it is hinted that he killed women, and burning barns was a metaphor for the act. The narrator understates his psychopathy.
Allusions
Allusions are made to the advancing technology, as people appear to be ignorant of the TV people just like people are ignorant of the ways there are becoming dependent on the technology.
Imagery
The most powerful imagery is drawn up of the elephant shrinking in 'The Elephant Vanishes'. The narrator realizes that the elephant has shrunken as he compares it to the keeper, who appeared to be on a larger scale than he used to be with the elephant.
Paradox
In 'Lederhosen', the mother goes to buy her husband a pair of pants at his request as her duty as a wife. however, in the process of finding the right pants, she ends up realizing that she hates him.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between the siblings in 'Family Affair' and 'A Slow Boat To China'. Both brothers are controlling of the sisters. The perspectives are different as in first case POV is through the brother, and in the second case, the POV is from an outsider.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
"It sounds positively irritated, the way it rings" in 'The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Woman'
The phone is personified since it is described as being irritated.
