Anna Christie Literary Elements

Drama

New York, 1920s

Third-person limited

Tone: caustic, bitter, mocking, hopeful (only occasionally!), foreboding

Mood: gloomy

Protagonist: Anna. Antagonist: No clear one, but "men" perhaps, and at times, Anna herself, her father, and Mat

Will Anna be able to leave her sordid past behind and live a new life with her father and/or Mat?

When Anna reveals her past as a prostitute and both her father and Mat fall into, respectively, paroxysms of despair and rage

1. Chris thinks the way Anna talks about the sea is foreboding, which foreshadows some of the trouble this family will face in the imminent future.
2. Anna tells her father he is acting like something bad is going to happen, which foreshadows the arrival of Burke.
3. The gloomy mood settling on Chris and Burke at the end of the play foreshadows something going wrong when they are out at sea together.

1. “The world’s oldest profession” (17) is an understatement for prostitution (it’s also a euphemism.
2. Anna says one of the sons “started” her, which is an understatement for getting her involved in prostitution.
3. Burke says he and Chris were only having “a bit of an argument” (57) but Chris had pulled a knife on him.

1. Davy Jones (37) is a nautical superstition, perhaps the ghost of Jonah, a spirit that can doom a sailor to the abyss.
2. The name Chris Christopherson is an allusion to Christopher Columbus and to Christ.

Much of the imagery is that of the sea, whether it is Chris's depiction of the sea as a devil, or Mat's depiction of it as a worthy foe, or Anna's belief that it is cleansing and purifying.

It is paradoxical, though in line with patriarchal thinking, that Anna as the prostitute is censured for her behavior but not the men that seek her out.

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1. Chris personifies the sea all the time; one example is “Dat ole devil sea male dem crazy fools with her dirty tricks” (26).
2. “Dense fog shrouds the barge on all sides, and she floats motionless on a calm” (30).