Main Street Literary Elements

Main Street Literary Elements

Genre

Satire

Setting and Context

Gopher Prairie, in Minnesota during the early 20th century

Narrator and Point of View

An unnamed, third-person omniscient narrator.

Tone and Mood

The tone is shocking; the mood is uneasy.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Carol is the protagonist; the ugly town is the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel occurs when Carol starts working as a librarian at a library in Minnesota's capital.

Climax

The climax of the story is reached when meets Will, who is a doctor, and they fall in love and get married to each other.

Foreshadowing

The move to Sopher Prairie is foreshadowed by the fact that it is Will's home town.

Understatement

The importance of pleasure is understated throughout the novel.

Allusions

The story alludes to the political unrest during the First World War.

Imagery

The imagery of rural towns is present in the novel.

Paradox

The fact that Will should care for his wife, yet only focuses on himself is an example of paradox in the story.

Parallelism

N/A

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The women's club is a metonym for the freedom that Carol desires.

Personification

N/A

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