Genre
Memoir
Setting and Context
The action described here takes place between 1957 and 1962 in various locations in America such as New York and California.
Narrator and Point of View
The action is told from the perspective of a first person-subjective point of view.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood is a desperate one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is the unrealistic expectations various people have.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is an internal one and is between the desire to remain with someone who is familiar and the need to follow one’s path.
Climax
The memoir reaches its climax when the narrator divorces her husband.
Foreshadowing
The memoir begins with the narrator mentioning how she is alone with her son. This foreshadows the scene in which the narrator will leave her husband.
Understatement
When the narrator claims that she was happily married is an understatement because it is later proven that this was a lie and that she was extremely miserable in her relationship with her partner.
Allusions
One of the main allusions here is the idea that a person cannot be truly happy unless they follow their dreams and do what makes them happy.
Imagery
One important imagery appears at the beginning of the memoir when the narrator describes herself sitting alone with her child in a dark room. This image is important because it shows just how dire the narrator’s situation was.
Paradox
A paradoxical idea is a way in which the narrator continues to seek the presence of men in her life even though she knows they will only bring her pain and suffering.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Marriage is used in this memoir as a general term to make reference to the oppression of women.
Personification
We have a personification in the sentence “I saw the trees bowing low in front of me”.
