Genre
Post-colonial novel
Setting and Context
Morocco in the 20th century
Narrator and Point of View
The story is told by various storytellers, who often give different accounts of the events.
Tone and Mood
The tone of the novel is often sorrowful, due to Ahmed's painful experiences.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Ahmed, and the antagonist is her father.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is Ahmed's difficulty with her identity.
Climax
The climax of the novel is when Ahmed decides to live in seclusion, after the death of Fatima.
Foreshadowing
Ahmed's father's attitudes towards having a daughter foreshadow his later actions against Ahmed.
Understatement
Ahmed's parents severely understate the damage that their actions will have on her.
Allusions
There is an allusion to the Arabic oral tradition with the use of storytellers as narrators.
Imagery
The author uses imagery to describe Ahmed's pain and difficulty with her identity.
Paradox
The storytellers all offer different accounts of the end of Ahmed's life, and they can't all be true.
Parallelism
Both Ahmed and her wife Fatima have suffered due to the judgment of society, and their pain is paralleled.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
