The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Literary Elements

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Literary Elements

Genre

Novella

Setting and Context

Timeline is opened in 1951 year, in the Southern Part of the USA

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narration

Tone and Mood

The novella tells itself a social and moral problem of publicity, and it keeps a sad and dusty mood throughout the entire story.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist of the story is Cousin Lymon who was given a talent to cheer up the audience, and the antagonist was Marvin Macy who first got his life and hopes ruined by other people; soon, years passed, and he got his revenge.

Major Conflict

The major conflict stands in love, as the story has few lines of love ties, but all of them are ending in one place and moment. Also the problems of trust and betrayal are revealed.

Climax

The climax is happening when Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon, being happy together and running successful business, receive a letter from a cousin who released from jail.

Foreshadowing

Intentions of Marvin Macy being steadfastly ready for revenge foreshadows undesirable things to happen.

Understatement

The story should have started with a little preview of a childhood of Miss Amelia Ewans; that would clear out why she became a person that was described from the beginning. The omission of the details leaves it up to the reader to make up their mind concerning her background.

Allusions

N/A

Imagery

The author turns to imagery mostly when describing appearances, thus creating quite a picture of characters’ personalities.

Paradox

Miss Amelia creating her own enemy with her own hands. She made Marvin her first enemy who gave everything up to spoil her life.

Parallelism

A parallel line is drawn between Miss Amelia and Marvin Macy who both trapped as victims.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

Miss Amelia Ewans is a woman of modern society who keeps the weight of the world on her shoulders and stands as an open incarnation of the solid and self-sufficient "fairer sex."

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