Genre
Short Story Collection
Setting and Context
The stories are written in the context of feminism.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is apathetic and the mood is ominous.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists in 'The Mark of Twain' and 'Requiem Glass' are the narrator and the Stone thrower.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is that women are perceived as sex objects, and inferior beings meant to serve men.
Climax
The climax comes when William Langston viciously rapes the young woman to satisfy his romantic fantasies.
Foreshadowing
The painting of women as crazy, loose, frigid and dead girls is foreshadowed by the assumptions of the patriarchal society that women are inferior beings.
Understatement
In the story 'La Negra Blanca', the character of Livingstone III is understated. For instance, he pretends to enjoy watching black strip girls dancing on his laps, but he intends to abuse them sexually.
Allusions
The story alludes to misconceptions that have been directed to women over the ages.
Imagery
The images of the glasshouse in 'Requiem for a Glass Heart' show that the house risks breaking.
Paradox
The main paradox is in the story 'Requiem for a Glass Heart' in which the entire household is deceitful. For instance, Stone Thrower considers visiting his mistress after having been intimidated by his wife.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
‘Loose women’ is a metonymy for infidelity among women.
Personification
N/A
