Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life Literary Elements

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life Literary Elements

Genre

Fiction

Setting and Context

Set in 1846

Narrator and Point of View

First-person narrative on Tommo’s perspective

Tone and Mood

Horrific, scary, optimistic, explorative

Protagonist and Antagonist

The central character is Tommo

Major Conflict

There is a conflict between the narrator, Tommo, and the Dolly Ship’s management. Tommo and his friend Toby escape to the wildness to wait for another ship to employ them.

Climax

The climax comes when the tribes in the valley warmly welcome Tommo and his friend after escaping from Nukuheva.

Foreshadowing

Tommo’s worries were foreshadowed by the possibility of him being eaten by the Typees.

Understatement

The Typee’s strategy in trapping people for feasting is underrated. For instance, they gave Tommo a luxurious life without knowing that his feasting day was on schedule.

Allusions

The story is fictionalized to allude to the ancient tales of cannibalism.

Imagery

The images of the delight of the island life precisely depict sight imagery to readers.

Paradox

The cannibalistic natives are paradoxical characters. The visiting Europeans think that the natives are welcoming and caring. Ironically, the natives are taking good care of the Europeans to fatten up before they eat them.

Parallelism

There is parallelism between the ambitions of the natives and Tommo’s ambitions to get a good life.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Typees are used as a metonymy for terror.

Personification

N/A

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