Genre
Diary, Memoir
Setting and Context
Various settings, from Paris in the early 1930s until the outbreak of World War II, to New York.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is Anais Nin and everything is written from her point of view.
Tone and Mood
Frivolous and heavily sexually charged in tone; the mood swings from euphoria to abject boredom.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Anais Nin is the protagonist; eventually every one of her lovers becomes an antagonist.
Major Conflict
The main conflict in the diary is World War Two. Although Nin seems completely unaware of politics and the struggles that "real people" are having as war looms, she leaves Paris immediately war is declared and never returns.
Climax
Nin meets Rupert Pole who satisfies her insatiable need for love.
Foreshadowing
June Miller's extended trip to New York foreshadows her husband and Nin beginning a passionate affair.
Understatement
Nin observes that she seems to need more love than other people which is an understatement in that she appears to be something of a sex addict and seems to need more love than it is possible for anyone to actually give.
Allusions
Nin alludes to several other authors in the diary, for example, "Brave New World' author Aldous Huxley, with whom she has several protracted debates about the pros and cons of psychedelic drugs.
Imagery
N/A
Paradox
Nin is molested by her father but sees this as a kind of love, and believes also that she is attracted to him.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between all of Nin's lovers as she grows tired of them all after being with them for a short period of time.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Paris believed war was imminent which means that everyone who lived in Paris believed this.
Personification
Nin believes her father's piano knows how to seduce her, but a piano cannot seduce; she Is personifying an inanimate object.
