Genre
Short story collection
Setting and Context
The book was set between 1917 and 1921.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is ambiguous and the mood is disheartening
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main characters are Poll and Minnie Marsh.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that there is a big disparity between the rich and the poor. Heron realizes that the wealthy live in affluent places while the poor live in neglected areas.
Climax
The climax comes when the bird touches down and sits next to the fireplace to reflect what he saw while watching from above.
Foreshadowing
The clouds that block Heron's scene foreshadows the obstacles people go through in achieving their goals.
Understatement
The author understates Heron's laziness and craziness. Besides the bird being lazy, it reflects the reality of life.
Allusions
The story alludes to the truth about life.
Imagery
The images of nature are prevalent throughout the text. As the bird watches over the earth from above, he sees various pictures of the environment and how people live.
Paradox
The main paradox is that technology and human progress is doing more harm to the environment than good. For instance, the bird realizes that pollution is very high and that endangers all the ecological life.
Parallelism
The bird’s point of view parallels the assertion that man is the main danger to the environment.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
A heron is bird that has been personified to watch over the earth from above. Similarly, the author writes that the bird sits next to a fireplace to get warmth.
