Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
A small town of Mahut at a time when England had colonized most of the Caribbean Islands.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is in the first person, a girl named Xuela who narrates her life in Mahut from when she was a child to a dying old woman. She tells of the sadness that is in Mahut as people lack meaning in their lives. Xuela is resigned to the fact that life is meaningless and without love.
Tone and Mood
The story has a resigned tone and a sombre mood as it covers the empty lives of the characters who lived in Mahut.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator, Xuela whose life is full of sadness that she is resigned to that fact whereas the antagonist is the system of colonialism that has rid of the Caribbean people their culture.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is the endless search of love and meaning of life by most of the characters in the novel. The characters go out of their way to build their life for example Madame Labatte enchanted her husband by use of her menstrual blood just so that she could be married to him.
Climax
The climax is reached when the narrator, Xuela finds peace in life. She accepts the fact that she is alone since her parents and siblings had died. Xuela had come to accept and be at peace with the circumstances that she was in.
Foreshadowing
Madame Labatte constantly thought of Xuela getting pregnant with her husband's baby and in time it happened for Xuela became pregnant.
Understatement
Xuela said that she did not feel like her stepmother liked her. This is an understatement because her stepmother tried to kill her by giving her a necklace that had been enchanted. This necklace would have made Xuela mad and later killed her if she wore it.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The description of Xuela's school uniform as follows, '... a green skirt and a beige blouse...' The description achieves imagery by the use of adjectives to describe the uniform.
Paradox
Xuela said that dark green trees attained great beauty and great ugliness. This statement is paradoxical because the trees can either be beautiful or ugly but never both at the same time.
Parallelism
The narrator draws a parallel between how her lover Ronald was loving towards her and took great care of her to how Ronald's wife was aggressive and violent towards Xuela when she found out about the affair.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Xuela personified the trees when she said that they were moving about. This is a human characteristic that trees do not have.
