Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
Set in the Golden Age hospital in Australia during the 1950s
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrator, who gives insight into the thoughts of the characters
Tone and Mood
The novel is somber and moving.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are Frank and Elsa, the antagonist is their illness.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is Frank and Elsa's struggle with polio.
Climax
The climax of the novel is when a young boy tries to run away from the hospital.
Foreshadowing
Frank's traumatic experiences in the attic foreshadow his later trauma in the isolation ward.
Understatement
The trauma caused by the isolation ward is understated and not understood properly by the adults.
Allusions
London alludes to the Golden Age hospital, which existed in Australia in the 1950s.
Imagery
Imagery is used to describe Elsa's mother, who is depicted as being "like an angel."
Paradox
The novel is called "The Golden Age," and paradoxically the golden age of childhood has been taken away from the children in the hospital.
Parallelism
Frank and his parents have parallel experiences of loneliness.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
