Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
The book is set in 1986 in Paris.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Humorous, devastating,
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main protagonist is Emma Boisgris.
Major Conflict
The main conflict occurs when Emma gives a Haitian man refuge, but instead, he manipulates her for their gain.
Climax
The climax is when Emma finally knows the motives of Ishmael but decides to love him anyway because she thinks that she is aging.
Foreshadowing
Emma’s parents’ disproval of her nude dancing at an early age foreshadows her doomed future.
Understatement
The love between Emma and Ishmael is understated. The complication of love is the main issue because Emma blindly falls in love despite knowing that he is a married man.
Allusions
The story alludes to the challenges the selves go through in Europe. Emma is a black Haitian, and the only white person who loves her gravitates to her hyper-sexual body.
Imagery
The description of Emma's hyper-sexual body during her nude dancing sessions aids readers to visualize her physical appearance.
Paradox
Emma's nude dancing career is paradoxical. Emma started her career at the peak of her beauty. However, she has now aged, but she does not want to quit her career since she argues that her body works better than her brain.
Parallelism
The story of slavery parallels the white man's perception of Emma's sexual body.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
