Genre
Autobiographical
Setting and Context
Poland and America during the 20th century
Narrator and Point of View
Eva Hoffman is the first-person narrator.
Tone and Mood
Nostalgic, tumultuous, helplessness, uncertain, turbulent
Protagonist and Antagonist
Eva Hoffman is the protagonist. Germans and Ukrainians are the antagonists.
Major Conflict
Eva Hoffman finding contentment, cultural stability and identity, and a sense of belonging after her life is upset by war
Climax
Eva Hoffman’s marital bliss with Barry Hoffman.
Foreshadowing
Eva Hoffman's parents' hunch "after their secret bunker was discovered by some Ukrainians' informs their resolution to relocate to another hiding place. The hunch is a foreshadow because, after some days, the local gestapo searches the region. Had they disobeyed the hunch, they could have been caught up in the bunker.
Understatement
Eva Hoffman understates Bronia’s femininity and enlightenment: “Bronia wears no makeup; her dresses, invariably of flowery calico prints, hang loosely around her body; and she wouldn’t know how to put on a pair of nylon stockings.” The understatement underscores Bronia’s primitivism.
Allusions
Historical allusions such as the war. Religious allusions such as ‘Jesus and Mary.’
Imagery
The library is similar to a religious place or a place where Eva Hoffman finds profound enlightenment: “ The interior is Plato's cave, an Egyptian temple, the space of mystery and magic, on whose threshold I stand a humble acolyte." Comparing the library to a temple and cave underscores its specialness in Hoffman and her mother's life.
Paradox
Parents' expectations of their and their children's happiness are paradoxical: “ They want happiness fervently, and they implore their children to be happy, to be happy no matter what. It turns out, in the long run, to be a paradoxical recipe." The parents do not have faith in happiness due to circumstances such as war that have disillusioned them. Yet encouraging their children to pursue happiness without ceasing is paradoxical
Parallelism
Eva Hoffman provides parallel accounts of her experiences in Poland, Canada, and America, resulting in a comparison and contrast model.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
‘ex nihilo’ denotes ‘from nothing.’
Personification
N/A
