Written on the Body Literary Elements

Romance Novel

The book is set and written in the context of love and relationships.

The first-person narrative from an unknown narrator

Ambitious, enduring, determined, hopeful

The protagonist of the story is the narrator.

The major conflict is when the narrator makes a difficult decision to leave Louse because of the fear instilled in him by Elgin. According to Elgin, Louse is a cancer patient and having a sexual relationship with her will worsen her health. Louse tries to convince the narrator that she is fine, but he leaves her for good.

The climax comes when the narrator realizes that his true love is Louse and decides to look for her. At last, there is a happy ending when the narrator finds Louse, though deplorable.

The narrator’s hidden gender identity foreshadowed his troubled future in finding love.

Elgin's argument that Louse cannot have a stable sexual relationship with another man is understated. After Louse leaves Elgin, he settles with another woman, indicating that whatever he said earlier was just to keep off the narrator from pursuing Louse.

The story alludes to the pursuance of love and marital challenges.

Images of smell, taste and sight are prevalent throughout the book. For instance, the narrator says, "From beyond the front door, my nose is twitching, I can smell her coming down the hall towards me. She is a perfumer of sandalwood and hops.” Similarly, taste imagery is depicted when the narrator says, “When I ate my soap, I strained to taste her skin.”

The main paradox is that the narrator's identity is hidden, and that pursuance of women does not necessarily mean that he is a man. Similarly, the narrator is paradoxically optimistic that he can make a successful sexual relationship with Louse when all his past relationships failed terribly.

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Love is personified as having the ability to transcend borders.