Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
The book is set in New York in the context of the narrator's experiences.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Pessimistic, enthusiastic, unrelenting
Protagonist and Antagonist
The narrator is the protagonist of the story.
Major Conflict
The narrator’s struggles to discover herself and purpose forms the main conflict in this novel. The narrator has expectations that do not alight with realities. Consequently, she lives several lives to explore her purpose while living in New York.
Climax
The climax arrives when Jen lets things take shape as they wish in her life. At this point, she gives up and decides to let go of her unrealistic ambitions.
Foreshadowing
The narrator's first career as a journalist foreshadowed her future struggles in New York because, at last, she never got satisfaction.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The story alludes to the struggles graduates go through after finishing school. Graduates expect to find a good career after college, but the reality is sometimes different because things on the ground are different.
Imagery
The narrator's description of the rat that passes ahead of her in the streets is sight imagery. The image of the radio station also depicts the sense of hearing.
Paradox
Death is the main paradox in the story because it is treated as if it is not part of the human journey. Birth is celebrated, but death is refuted.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The rat is personified because it can observe traffic lights before crossing the road.
