Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Written in the context of schooling and learning
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Inspiring, heartening, optimistic, hopeful
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Ally Nickerson.
Major Conflict
The conflict is that Ally is experiencing reading difficulties due to her dyslexia condition, and she does not want anybody to know her problem at school. Ally has perfected distracting everyone whenever she is asked to read.
Climax
The climax comes when Ally becomes confident of her condition and learns that nothing is impossible in life. Teacher Daniel plays a critical role in ensuring that Ally is courageous enough to face her condition and succeed in life.
Foreshadowing
Ally's stubbornness and perfection in distraction are foreshadowed by her absentee parents, who do not understand her condition.
Understatement
Parenting is understated in the novel. For instance, Ally's mother is absent because she spends very little time with her. Similarly, Ally's father is a military man who is always absent. Therefore, Ally has to devise a mechanism of defending her inefficiencies without knowing that she is endangering her life.
Allusions
The story alludes to the ability of people to succeed despite suffering from disabilities such as dyslexia.
Imagery
The imagery of smell is evident when the narrator describes the smell of her brother. The narrator writes, “The backdoor swings open, and my brother, Travis, is there, smelling like grease. Looking like he rolled in it. And I instantly feel better.”
Paradox
The satire of parenting is dominant in the text. Throughout the text, the reader does not come across Ally's parents trying to help her get out of dyslexia. Instead, Teacher Daniel takes the role of identifying Ally's challenge and finding a solution for her.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between fear for success and inability.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Bullying is personified as brutal.
