Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
The action takes place at the end of the 20th century in Scotland on a small island over the course of a few days.
Narrator and Point of View
The action in the novel is told from the perspective of a first-person subjective point of view.
Tone and Mood
The tone used in the novel is a dark and depressing one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist and the antagonist are the same person, namely Frank. The protagonist is seen as being his desire to be a good person why the antagonist is represented by his violent tendencies which he cannot control at times.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is an internal one and is between sanity and insanity.
Climax
The novel reaches its climax when Eric returns to the island.
Foreshadowing
At the beginning of the novel, Frank's father asks him if he had killed any more of God's creatures in the last period of time. This question foreshadows Frank's admission of killing numerous children from the island.
Understatement
When Eric is named by everyone as being the most dangerous in the family is an understatement as it is later proven that the person who was the most dangerous was Frank.
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the novel is the idea that Frank became violent because he was castrated as a child. This transmits the idea that when a person does not feel free to fulfil the purpose they were born for, they might become antisocial and even a danger to society.
Imagery
An important imagery appears in the second chapter when Frank looks at himself in the mirror and describes his physical appearance. Even though he is the most dangerous character in the novel, from those looking from the outside he is a simple obese boy who suffered a tragic accident in his past and who is pitied and looked down by everyone around him. This image clashes with the violent tendencies inside Frank and has the purpose of transmitting the idea that what we perceive is not always the reality.
Paradox
One of the paradoxical ideas is the way in which the father continues to insist the narrator lives with him even though he is a dangerous and violent person who cannot be trusted and controlled.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The island where the action takes place is used as a general term to make reference to the way in which mental illness can isolate a person from the rest of the world.
Personification
We have a personification in the line "the mirror smiled back at me".
