Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Linden Hills
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrator
Tone and Mood
Critical, appalling, and mesmerizing
Protagonist and Antagonist
Willa: Protagonist. Luther: Antagonist.
Major Conflict
Willa’s odds of escaping Luther’s imprisonment and dehumanization.
Climax
The demise of Sinclair (Willa’s beloved son).
Foreshadowing
The scream in the exposition of the novel foreshadows Willa’s protracted agony.
Understatement
The humaneness of Willa's neighbors is understated when they do nothing to aid her when a fire breaks out. They are unneighbourly neighbors.
Allusions
Allusion to Martin Luther family through the name Luther.
Religious allusions such as Christmas.
Psychological allusions such as Norman’s encounters with pink creatures.
Imagery
Class divisions are pervasive in Linden Hills, and are underscored through visual descriptions and through allusions to Dante's Inferno.
Paradox
Luther's act of mistreating his family, especially his son, is paradoxical. His son does not evoke fatherly instinct in him.
Parallelism
Willa’s suffering is parallel to Willie Mason and Lester’s suffering.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Linden Hills typifies the segregationist American dream.
Personification
N/A
