Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Chicago, America
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrator
Tone and Mood
Humorous (dark), worrisome, and nerve-racking
Protagonist and Antagonist
The Middlesteins are both the protagonists and the antagonists.
Major Conflict
Edie Middlestein’s morbid preoccupation with eating
Climax
Richard Middlestein’s unpleasant desertion of Edie at a vulnerable moment.
Foreshadowing
Edie's tingling, which occurs during her childhood, foreshadows her lifelong struggles with ill-health.
Understatement
Robin understates his father’s manliness by deeming him cowardly when he forsakes Robin’s mother at a precarious stage
Allusions
Historical allusions: “the war with Japan.”
Imagery
Overeating directly adds to Edie’s plumpness.
Paradox
Edie’s father’s failure to add his weight is paradoxical, considering that he overindulges.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
‘Gene pool’ denotes family history.
Personification
Lioness is personified to depict Edie’s mother.
