The Subterraneans Literary Elements

The Subterraneans Literary Elements

Genre

Novella

Setting and Context

Greenwich Village in New York during the summer of 1953

Narrator and Point of View

Leo narrates the novel in the first-person as a memoir.

Tone and Mood

The tone is powerful; the mood is emotional.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Leo is the protagonist; racism is the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel occurs when Leo first meets Alene while she is transcribing manuscripts in an apartment.

Climax

The climax of the story is reached when Alene and Leo fall in love with each other and begin a short summer romance together.

Foreshadowing

The end of their romance is foreshadowed by the end of the summer and their parting as they move to different places.

Understatement

The role that love plays in our lives is understated throughout the novel.

Allusions

The story alludes to the treatment of African-Americans at the time in New York.

Imagery

The imagery of passionate sexual activity is present in the novel.

Paradox

The fact that Kerouac intended to overcome barriers, yet was insensitive to minorities is an example of paradox in the story.

Parallelism

There is a parallel between the relaxed attitude that Alene has and the summer full of meetings in jazz clubs and cocktail bars.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

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