Genre
Sci-fi, dystopian, young adult
Setting and Context
The Republic and the Colonies, America in the distant future
Narrator and Point of View
Split first-person point of view between Day and June.
Tone and Mood
The tone is generally grim, because the characters are in the middle of conflict, but there are some light undertones to show hope.
Protagonist and Antagonist
June and Day are the protagonists. The antagonists are the plague that threatens the Republic and Colonies, and Commander Jameson and her remaining supporters from the old Republic.
Major Conflict
There is a plague that sweeps through the Republic and Colonies, and a war brewing between the two countries as well.
Climax
When Day tells the people of the Republic to revolt against the Colonies, not the Republic, starting the final explosion and battle that will end the war and almost kill Day.
Foreshadowing
Multiple times, Day wonders how he managed to get this far in his career when he started out in such a poor and desolate place. He foreshadows his own memory loss and the loss if his new position by being so unnerved by his new life.
Understatement
June tells Day that there's a plague in the Republic, but doesn't tell him how bad it is, or that his brother is sick.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
"I can feel his presence here in every stone he has touched, every person he has lifted up, every street and alley and city that he has changed in the few years of his life, because he is the Republic, he is our light, and I love you, I love you, until the day we meet again I will hold you in my heart and protect you there, grieving what we never had, cherishing what we did. I wish you were here.
I love you, always." -pg. 480
June's memory of Day bring to mind an image of light, specifically a light that is able to illuminate everywhere that it's touched. She thinks of him as being visible everywhere that he has ever been.
Paradox
Day was a notorious street criminal, but he also gains a high-level government position that he is respected for, using many of the skills he picked up on the street.
Parallelism
June starts out the Legend series as a soldier-in-training for the Republic, who later joins the rebellion on the streets, and ends up back as a high-level member of the Republic at the end of Champion. Day starts out as a street criminal and ends up working for the Republic, but leaves to go live with his surviving brother at the end of Champion. Both Day and June return to their former lives, albeit in altered ways, at the end of the novel.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"No matter how much money the Republic throws at me, I will forever be the boy from the streets." -pg. 100
Day refers to the Republic as a whole when discussing his salary, but in reality, the people giving him money would be specific officials.
Personification
"Time heals all wounds. But not this one. Not yet."
-pg. 375
Time cannot physically cause wounds to heal.
