Genre
Dystopian fiction
Setting and Context
Set in 1969 in a fictional town
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is ardent, and the mood is tense.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main character is Mrs. Burridge. The antagonist is not mentioned.
Major Conflict
There is a major conflict between Mrs. Burridge and her husband, Frank. Frank is no longer romantic, and his ability to protect his wife is declining.
Climax
The climax comes when Mrs. Burridge goes upstairs and starts to daydream. In her dream, she hides Frank’s shotgun to protect herself while running away from the apocalypse.
Foreshadowing
The couple’s boredom is foreshadowed by isolation.
Understatement
Frank understates the impact of the apocalypse in the event it occurs.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The author depicts a sense of sight to readers when she describes the daily routine of Mrs. Burridge. For instance, she wakes up every morning to cane food and looks at the horizon to see if a cloud of smoke is coming from there.
Paradox
The main paradox is that Frank is not worried about him not being romantic. According to Frank, they are aging and should focus on other important things as long as they are happy.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between Mrs. Burridge’s thought that she has wasted time in her life and her husband’s lack of romance.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The apocalypse is a metonymy for misfortune and doom.
Personification
N/A
