Genre
A short story
Setting and Context
The actions take place in 1909 in New York.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is first-person, an unnamed 21 year-old man.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood of the story is calm and even.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is a young man of 21 years old, who watches a movie which shows years of youth of his parents.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is in the realization of one’s own decisions and actions, and the comprehension of the effect these decisions and actions make on the surrounding world.
Climax
The climax comes when the young man is sent out of the theatre.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The story alludes to William Howard Taft – the twenty-seventh president of the United States. There are also allusions to famous New York areas and attractions – Brooklyn, Coney Island.
Imagery
The images of nature, as realized through the ocean, are present in the context.
Paradox
The paradox stands in the fact that a young man watches a movie of his own parents
Parallelism
Parallelism is used when describing the situation when the father comes to the house of his future wife – the protagonist’s mother. There is details and in parallel constructions is told what each member of the family is doing: “My father enters, my grand father rises from the table and shakes hands with him. My mother has run upstairs to tidy herself. My grandmother asks my father if he has had dinner. My grandfather opens the conversation. My father sits uncomfortably near the table….”
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“The audience begins to clap impatiently” – (audience is synecdoche for people)
“an occasional carriage passes” – (carriage is a metonymy for horses harnessed to it)
Personification
“the afternoon descends”
