Genre
young adult fiction
Setting and Context
Nova Scotia, close to Halifax; present day
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: omniscient;
Point of view: third person
Tone and Mood
Tone: impartial
Mood: depressed, brooding
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Reef; Antagonist: Reef is his own antagonist, his anger and frustration make him act without thinking.
Major Conflict
Fueled by anger, Reef throws a stone into the moving traffic which hits Leeza's car and ends up in a horrible accident which makes her hospitalized for a long period. As a punishment, Reef has to go to a correction home and volunteer to learn his lesson.
Climax
Reef is finally about to meet Leeza's mother, so she can thank him for what he did for her daughter. The mother recognizes him as the boy who cause Leeza's accident in the first place, which crushes both Reef and Leeza (neither of them knew who the other one really was). As a result, Reef finally learns his lesson and decides to share the experience with other young people.
Foreshadowing
"And believe me, young man, you will gain insight. You will feel remorse. I'm going to make certain of that."
-It is a foreshadowing that does come true at the end. Reef does gain insight and feels remorse at the end when he finally realizes the consequences of his actions.
Understatement
Reef understates the consequences of his actions under the excuse of "S*** happens".
Allusions
"And when the scribes and the Pharisees dragged the adulterer to the temple to be punished, Jesus said, "Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone.""
Imagery
Imagery of stones-The first stone was given to Reef by his grandmother in hopes that it will bring him luck and make him go the right direction in life. Inadvertently, the same stone turns Reef's life upside down.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
"Made him want to be better somehow. Made him think, maybe, that he was better. Better than he'd been, anyway."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"Bigger"-nickname of one of Reef's friends given to him because of his corpulence.
Personification
"Moments after the injection, Leeza could feel the icy knife grow warm and dull. It was still there in the background, still moving, searching for something vulnerable, but it no longer jabbed and twisted into her."
