Genre
Fiction; Robisonade
Setting and Context
An desert island off the west coast of America
Narrator and Point of View
An unnamed, third-person omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
The tone is unsettling; the mood is dramatic.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Unca is the protagonist; Alluca is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the novel occurs when Unca is traveling by boat, when she becomes shipwrecked on a desert island.
Climax
The climax of the story is reached when Unca enters survival mode as she realizes that nobody is coming to save her.
Foreshadowing
The sinking of the ship is foreshadowed by the fact that it was poorly maintained.
Understatement
The role of women during colonization is understated throughout the novel.
Allusions
The story alludes to the female strength during religious conversion.
Imagery
The imagery of the beautiful yet haunting island is present in the novel.
Paradox
The fact that Unca is a native herself, yet is unfamiliar and isolated from the island is an example of paradox in the story.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Unca's initial fear is personified through the hissing snakes.
