Genre
Humor, Travel, Memoir
Setting and Context
America - the entire continent, small town by small town
Narrator and Point of View
The author is the narrator and the journey is viewed through his own point of view.
Tone and Mood
The tone is upbeat and somewhat satirical; the mood is funny and good humored.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Bryson is the protagonist; those who do not see the beauty of the country but want to over-develop it are his antagonists.
Major Conflict
There is underlying conflict between those who want to change the landscape of society by making everything impersonal, and Bryson, who misses the days of personal communication and contact within the community.
Climax
There is not a climax in the traditional sense, as each anecdote is self-contained.
Foreshadowing
The increasing number of theme parks and shopping centers foreshadows the destruction of the more personalized way of life that Bryson is attached to.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Bryson alludes to the history of the country when he looks into the way in which towns and cities are named.
Imagery
Bryson spends much of the book describing the rich colors and depth of the landscape of the National Parks, enabling the reader to picture the different colors of the trees and the land, and the vastness of what he is seeing.
Paradox
Bryson observes that the people who notice how beautiful the landscape is when they are visiting a place have not difficulty in urbanizing and spoiling the landscape in their own environment.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the standard of service that Bryson receives and the size of the tip that he leaves in a restaurant.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Small Town America is the phrase that Bryson uses to include the residents of each small town that he goes through and also to represent a mentality or a state of mind that seems to frustrate him.
Personification
N/A
