Genre
Short Essays
Setting and Context
The setting is early 20th Century.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is a customer of the Gessler store.
Tone and Mood
The tone of the story is thoughtful, especially at the end.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The Gessler brothers are protagonists, while the large firm is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The conflict of this story is the struggle of small businesses.
Climax
The climax is at the end of the story, where the narrator discovers that the younger Gessler brother had died.
Foreshadowing
The younger Gessler brother's death is foreshadowed by the earlier description of him, emphasizing how stressed he was.
Understatement
When buying his shoes from the larger firm, the narrator understates the impact this will have on the Gessler brothers' store.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The shoes are described with rich imagery, in order to emphasize the narrator's admiration.
Paradox
The Gessler brother dies of starvation despite making excellent shoes.
Parallelism
The struggle of small businesses is paralleled with the success of big corporations.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The Gessler brother's face is personified as struggling.
