Marcovaldo: or The Seasons in the City Literary Elements

Marcovaldo: or The Seasons in the City Literary Elements

Genre

Short adventure stories

Setting and Context

The events in the story take place in an unnamed city in Italy

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narration

Tone and Mood

In story an ironic tone prevails, sometimes with dramatic notes

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist of the story is Marcovaldo, a poor Italian blue-collar worker; the antagonist is the industrial society, which lost the connection with nature

Major Conflict

The major conflict stands in the struggle between man needs and desires – Marcovaldo immolated his dream to live near the purity of nature in order to earn money

Climax

The climax happens in the last episode of the story

Foreshadowing

The fact that Marcovaldo can’t realize his dream foreshadows that he is not satisfied with his life

Understatement

The role of city and industrialization

Allusions

The story alludes to poverty and realities of big city life

Imagery

see the imagery section

Paradox

The paradox of the story is between Marcovaldo’s endless optimism and simultaneously pessimism

Parallelism

The story has parallels with cultural contrast, social stereotypes, and nature

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The author uses metonymy and synecdoche to highlight the message of the utterance: “128 pages of glory," “the heart of the city”

Personification

The author uses personification for creating the realistic effect specific situations: “I'm ruined” “The moment stretched out”

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