Genre
Urban fiction
Setting and Context
Set in Sutton Place (York Avenue)
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Sad and pessimistic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The central character is Charlie, and the antagonist is Charlie's property owner.
Major Conflict
There is a major conflict between Charlie and his conscience. He lies to people about his children, yet he is a single man. Charlie is given presents to take to his children, but he has no children.
Climax
The climax comes when Charlie takes all the presents he gave to the landlady to share amongst her three skinny children.
Foreshadowing
Charlie’s unhappiness is foreshadowed by solitude.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The scene when Charlie is helping a woman in the elevator depicts a sense of sight to readers. The description of the elevator's operations paints a picture in the readers' minds to see what Charlie does daily.
Paradox
The main paradox is that despite receiving many gifts, Charlie is unhappy, and it is on Christmas day when he remembers all his sorrows.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between Charlie’s thought of loneliness and his candid discussion with Mrs. Hewing about his family status.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term “Wall” is used as a metonymy for rejection. According to Charlie, despite living a rich neighborhood, there is a wall between him and the inhabitants, implying that he will never be accepted.
Personification
The Christmas day is personified as an enemy who intentionally makes Charlie’s life miserable.
