Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
Toronto, Canada, both in real time and also in reminiscences based years later.
Narrator and Point of View
Elaine Risley is the narrator and she tells the story from her own perspective.
Tone and Mood
The tone is nostalgic and the mood is quite melancholy and dour.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Elaine is the protagonist, Cordelia the antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is constant conflict after Cordelia's arrival in the group of friends because she turns the other two girls against Elaine and all three bully her.
Climax
Elaine manages to find her own identity and move on with her life unencumbered by her past experiences.
Foreshadowing
Cordelia making friends with Carol and Grace foreshadows the way in which they turn on her and start to bully her.
Understatement
"Bullying" is a word used by Elaine to describe what the girls did to her, but this wording understates the issue in that throwing her hat down the ravine and then disappearing whilst she went to reclaim it actually puts her life in danger.
Allusions
Queen Elizabeth II's perceived bravery and stoicism is alluded to in the segments of the reminiscing about World War II.
Imagery
The imagery in the novel deals mostly with Elaine's artwork which largely focuses on the way in which she feels her past has influenced the person she is today.
Paradox
Even though Cordelia bullied her remorselessly, Elaine still wants her to commit to being in her life.
Parallelism
There is a parallel with the nomadic lifestyle that her parents led and the fact that Elaine is unaware of social cues and is unable to understand what is expected of her in one-to-one relationships.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Toronto is actually treated like an additional character and given intentions, behaviors, and other human actions that it cannot, as a city, actually have.
