Genre
The novel, family drama.
Setting and Context
The events in the story are pictured In two places, the small town Monteriano, Italy and in Sawston, England.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration
Tone and Mood
In story prevails cynical, sorrow tone, sometimes tragic (connected with the death of Lilia and her child), and sarcastic when talking about the society problems.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of the story is Lilia, and the antagonists are the Herriton family, who tried to impose Lilia to live her life as they wanted.
Major Conflict
The major conflict stands in contradiction between Lilia who wanted to be happy with Gino and didn’t care about her social status and Herritons family, who always cared about their social position and it was unbearable rot them to let Lilia act so free.
Climax
The climax happens when Philip and Harriet come to Italy with the rescue mission to save the child and bring it to England, but this mission fails because the child dies in a terrible accident.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
In the story the arrogance of Herritons and their attitude to the world is understated.
Allusions
The story alludes to different famous writers, poets, artists as well as historical places and events: Byron, English poet ,Mark Twain, American author, Garibaldi, Italian general and politician, Dante, Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, Italian opera.
Imagery
See Imagery Section
Paradox
The paradox of the story is that Lilia, who longed to be free and not to “live in a box” anymore is marrying Gino and this marriage was also a box for her, and even worse than the previous one.
Parallelism
The story has parallels with cultural contrast, social stereotypes and how people from different countries treat each other.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The author uses metonymy and synecdoche to depict cultural differences between Italy and England and to simplify some notions: “Italy is the school as well as the playground of the world”, “the heart of things”, “John Bull to the backbone”.
Personification
The author uses personification in description of landscapes and in order to enrich the character’ s speech: “romance only dies with life”, “leagues of olive-trees and vineyards and blue-green hills to watch you.”
