Genre
Fiction; fable
Setting and Context
An indeterminate location similar to the British countryside; Joe's house and the surrounding Big Meadow, Barn Croft, and Pool Field
Narrator and Point of View
Limited third-person from Joe's point of view
Tone and Mood
Similar to a fable or folktale with magical realist elements
Protagonist and Antagonist
Joseph Coppock, also known as "Joe," is the protagonist. Thin Amren and Treacle Walker could both be interpreted as potential antagonists, although their intentions remain benevolent.
Major Conflict
Joe does not want to accept the "glamourie," or magical second sight, that Treacle Walker has granted him by gifting him the magic stone.
Climax
The novel's climax occurs when Joe battles Thin Amren and the cuckoo and must finally embrace his "glamourie"
Foreshadowing
Treacle Walker foreshadows Joe's eventual use of the stone as an object of power
Understatement
Treacle Walker frequently understates what he truly means by using a mix of rhymes, word play, and other ways of obscuring his meaning.
Allusions
The text is full of allusions to historical facts and occurrences through a combination of symbols and words. Thin Amren alludes to bog bodies; the bone pipe alludes to Irish myths; the pony alludes to the Uffington White Horse; the Knockout comics allude to the real-life Knockouts that were produced in 1930-50—all of these are just a sampling of the many allusions scattered throughout the text.
Imagery
The novel, despite its use of spare description from Joe's point of view, frequently focuses on images of the surrounding landscape and sounds that Joe hears, such as Noony's rattling and the cuckoo's call.
Paradox
Treacle Walker frequently speaks in contradictory, paradoxical statements. One of the novel's central paradoxes is that Joe must accept his magical sight, even though he at first sees it as an impairment. Another, as Treacle Walker frequently states, is that we can never know the true meaning of things, and that our ordinary understanding of reality actually counts for very little.
Parallelism
Treacle Walker and Thin Amren parallel each other as magical figures who originate from folkloric tropes.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Personification
The train, Noony, is personified when Joe gives it a name and speaks of it as if it's a real person he encounters.
