Genre
A short story
Setting and Context
Aldecross, small English town
Narrator and Point of View
Third person narration
Tone and Mood
The tone of the story is pitiful, because Lindley family lives in poverty, it is negotiating, when Mary marries Mr. Massy and, at last, in the end of the story hopeless mood changes into happiness for Louisa and Alfred.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of the story is Louisa, who considers that a woman should marry only the men she loves, and the antagonist is her elder sister Mary, who puts the good of her family higher than her own and marries a man she didn’t love, but a rich one.
Major Conflict
The major conflict stands in contradiction between marrying for money and marrying for love.
Climax
Climax happen when Louisa and Alfred say that they love each other and the next day Alfred comes to propose.
Foreshadowing
The fact that Mary hates her future husband doesn’t foreshadow her a happy marriage, and vice versa with Louisa: she loves Alfred and their life will be happy.
Understatement
Understatement lies in depiction of other children of the Lindley family, author doesn’t even mention their amount, and their role is not taken into account.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
Mostly used in descriptions of nature and appearances of the characters
Paradox
The paradox of the story is that two sisters have so different interests and aims in life: for Mary it is money and the good of her happiness and for Louisa it is her personal happiness.
Parallelism
The story parallels to different aspects of family relations, problem of poverty and the sense of duty.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The author uses metonymy and synecdoche in order to highlight the specific features of the characters, generalize and understate them: “population of colliers”, “long-legged girls”, “horrible nothingness of their lives”.
Personification
The author uses personification to reinforce the effect of the utterance: “powers of perception”, “millstone of poverty”.
