Where the Dead Sit Talking Literary Elements

Where the Dead Sit Talking Literary Elements

Genre

Novel

Setting and Context

Written in the context of coming of age

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Disheartening, sad, hopeless

Protagonist and Antagonist

The central character is Sequoyah.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is that Sequoyah is left under foster care because his mother is a drug addict, and the father is an absentee. Therefore, the boy grows up with identity crisis and confusion.

Climax

The climax comes when Sequoyah ends up in Troutt’s family, where he meets Rosemary, who gives him comfort and encouragement.

Foreshadowing

The accusations of stealing against Rosemary foreshadows her suicide.

Understatement

The impact of drug addiction is understated. The protagonist’s mother is an alcoholic and drug addict. Therefore, she abandons her son to foster care.

Allusions

The story alludes to the negative impacts of drug abuse in families.

Imagery

The images of depression, identity crisis, and suffering paint the environment the protagonist grows in.

Paradox

The main paradox is that Rosemary commits suicide for a crime she never committed.

Parallelism

There is parallelism between substance abuse and mental instability.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

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