A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters Literary Elements

A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters Literary Elements

Genre

Collection of short stories

Setting and Context

The action described in the short stories takes place in the distant past in various location all over the world.

Narrator and Point of View

The action in these stories is told from the perspective of a third-person objective point of view.

Tone and Mood

The tone and mood in these stories is a neutral one.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist in the first story is Noah and the antagonists are the people destroyed by the flood.

Major Conflict

The general conflict which appears in every story is between God and the sinners.

Climax

The third story reaches its climax when the church described at the beginning of the story collapses and is destroyed completely.

Foreshadowing

The flood mentioned in the first story foreshadows the later instances in which humans will have to deal with mass destruction and pain.

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

One of the main allusions found in the stories is the idea that men have a sinful nature and as such should not be held accountable for their actions.

Imagery

We have important imagery in the seventh story in which a woman climbs a mountain to reach a monastery. The woman wants to do this journey so she can help her father's soul escape eternal damnation. This image is an important one because it shows just how far a person is willing to go to gain salvation.

Paradox

One of the most paradoxical ideas presented in the story is that some people are creatures are destined to be destroyed from the beginning. This idea is paradoxical because God, the common character is every story is presented as having the desire to see everyone go to Heaven.

Parallelism

A parallel can be drawn between the woodworms and the sinners criticized by the religious authorities. This parallel is an important one because it shows how both categories are seen as being destructive and not beneficial to the world as a whole.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The woodworms mentioned in the stories are used here as a general way to make reference to the idea of destruction.

Personification

We have a personification in the fourth story in the sentence "the church grew from one day to the next".

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