Genre
psychological thriller/horror
Setting and Context
Dover, Delaware, old family house that belonged Lily's family
Narrator and Point of View
Several narrators throughout: Miranda, Eliot, the house, Ore
Point of view: first person
Tone and Mood
Tone: understated
Mood: nightmarish
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: the main protagonist is Miranda; Antagonist: ghosts of Miranda's mothers
Major Conflict
Miranda's mother Lily dies while away in Haiti which leaves the family distraught. Miranda is mostly affected by her mother's death and succumbs to her eating disorder.
Climax
Miranda is unable to struggle against the house and her mothers. The last scene of her is lying on a white net that saved Ore, but doesn't save her. She dies from the battery acid of the batteries she swallowed that were inside her mother's watch.
Foreshadowing
"How could she doubt the goodlady? The goodlady was Lily's creation."
This doubt that Miranda has at the beginning is a foreshadowing of her struggle that's to come, her struggle of not becoming her mothers.
Understatement
The supernatural or horror elements in the novel are quite understated and serve to showcase Miranda's psychological decline.
Allusions
"There was Ella Fitzgerald, whispering a tisket a tasket."
-"When Miranda"
Imagery
The imagery of blood as a representation of familial bonds is presented throughout.
Paradox
"A priest would say "Death is great! You get to go to heaven!"
-"Jennifer Silver"
Parallelism
"It wasn't Lily, it wasn't her father, it wasn't Eliot, it wasn't any of the poets whose words stuck spikes in her, not even Rumi."
-"When Miranda"
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The Silver house is personified as an entity with a mind of its own, even narrating a few chapters in the novel.
