Genre
Short Story collection
Setting and Context
Set in the 19th century
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Romantic, heartening, fantasy
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are John and the Bride.
Major Conflict
The climax is that the newly wedded bride sleeping beside her husband on honeymoon has a weird dream of all her past lovers who did not manage to win her hand in marriage. During the dream, she screams, and this wakes her husband to astonishment.
Climax
The climax comes when both the bride and John agree on everything while sorting out gifts, reflecting long-term comfort together. Besides agreeing on each gift category, they also agree on politics, food, travel, and every other aspect of their lives.
Foreshadowing
Her past relationships with different men foreshadow the bride's dreams and fantasies.
Understatement
The power of dreams is understated. When the bride narrates to John about her dream, John dismisses it as a mere dream without looking into its deep meaning.
Allusions
The story alludes to fantasy and dreams that occupy most of an individual's thinking.
Imagery
The major imagery is the description of the bride's dreams and fantasies that depict the sense of sight to readers. For instance, through the bride's fantasies, the reader can see how John swims in the ocean and reacts to the changing waves.
Paradox
The main paradox is that the bride loves the yellow colour, naturally associated with logic and critical interpretation. Ironically, the young bride subconsciously takes her dreams and fantasies to look deeper into their meanings without any seriousness.
Parallelism
The bride's world is different from her husband, who is focused on the physical world and what he sees.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Dreams are embodied as a human influencer.
