The Fall Literary Elements

The Fall Literary Elements

Genre

Philosophical novel

Setting and Context

Amsterdam, 20th century

Narrator and Point of View

The story is written using the first-person narration – the classical method while writing in the style of “stream of consciousness”

Tone and Mood

The whole story is soaked with irony and absurd: thus the narrator shows his arrogant attitude to the surrounding life, to the world, in general.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Jean-Baptiste, the small piece of his heart which is still kind and sincere. And the antagonist is actually “the second” Jean’s essence – lecherous, without moral virtues.

Major Conflict

The major conflict takes place between two Jean-Baptiste’s essences. And the bad one “wins” actually – he falls (the name of the novel confirms it).

Climax

The story doesn’t have any particular moment which may be called “culmination”. But actually the turning point for the protagonist takes place when he realizes his sincerity and misery. From this time he begins to “fall” from his self-esteem “height”.

Foreshadowing

The narrator talks about different issues in his confession beginning with condemning of people’s duplicity and ending with moral slavery of society.

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

The author doesn’t often alludes to any sources, for example, to Bible (“prophet crying in the wilderness”)

Imagery

View the imagery section

Paradox

The narrator says that his happiness in life was authorized by some higher decree, but meanwhile he says that he doesn’t believe in any religion and God.

Parallelism

The narrator sometimes uses this method such as in the following phrase: “My profession is double, that’s all, like the human being.”

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

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