Old School Literary Elements

Old School Literary Elements

Genre

Novel

Setting and Context

America, 20th century

Narrator and Point of View

First-person narrator

Tone and Mood

Determination, disappointment, ambition, sympathy, anticipation and frustration

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist: An aspiring writer-male student

Major Conflict

The protagonist’s desire to win a writing contest at school

Climax

The protagonist's expulsion from school due to plagiarism

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

Allusion to renowned literary writers such as Ernest Hemingway and their literary characters.

Imagery

Class governs the mannerism and interactions of the boys at the narrator’s school. The narrator is driven by the desire to be as classy as his wealthy peers at school.

Paradox

The narrator's detest of rhyme is paradoxical considering that renowned writers have employed it, and the narrator himself aspires to be a writer. Ordinarily, he would have strived to like it because he may be required to use it in the course of his writing career.

Parallelism

The narrator’s life (specifically writing career) is paralleled to the careers of other writers such as Ernest Hemingway.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The trophy denotes prestige.

Personification

Prizes are personified by being equated to females whom the boys must compete to win, be it in "sport, scholarship, music and writing."

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