Genre
A novel
Setting and Context
The story takes place in the South of the USA. The precise time is 1940s.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is told from the third point of view by the omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
Tone is thoughtful, mood is troubling, anxious, depressing.
Protagonist and Antagonist
John Singer, Jake Blount, Mick Kelly, Biff Brannon and Doctor Copeland are the protagonists of the story. Loneliness is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is person vs. self. The characters suffer from loneliness and question their own lives all the time. One more conflict is person vs. society. Jake Blount and Doctor Copeland try and fail to change the society for better.
Climax
John Singer’s suicide is the climax of the story.
Foreshadowing
There are those who know and those who don’t know. And for every ten thousand who don’t know there’s only one who knows.
This passage foreshadows the role of John Singer in the lives of other characters.
Understatement
It seemed this fellow was just a kid who had lived in Europe a good while ago.
The passage is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Allusions
The story alludes to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, Hollywood, the White House and Karl Marx.
Imagery
Imagery is often used to describe emotions of the characters.
Paradox
The sun made him pale instead of brown.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Lend me your ears! (Ears are metonymy that stands for attention).
The place was quiet. (The place is synecdoche that stands for people in the room).
Personification
The wind sang up in the oak trees on the block and banged the blinds against the side of the house.
