Annie on My Mind Literary Elements

A novel, young adult

The events of the story mostly take place in New York. The narrator of the story, Liza Winthrop, lives in Brooklyn Heights, where she attends the private school. Her friend, Annie Kenyon, lives in a poor district. Together they walk around the city, visiting various parks, museums and galleries. Later on, Liza Winthrop enters MIT in Massachusetts and moves there. Annie Kenyon enters Berkley, California. The context of the novel is focused on the first love, difficulties in accepting of one’s sexual orientation and problems a young gay couple may face.

The story is told from the first point of view. It is told by Liza Winthrop

The tone of the novel changes constantly. It is uncertain and worried at the beginning of the story, happy and dreamy in the middle, then anxious and worried again. Only in the end, when Liza makes up her mind, the tone of the story becomes happy and excited. The mood of the story is mostly romantic, sometimes worried .

Liza Winthrop is the protagonist of the story. Ms. Baxter is the antagonist of the story. Sally Jarrell could also be considered an antagonist

There are two major conflicts. The first is person vs. self, for it is not an easy task for Liza to accept that she is gay. The second is person vs. society. The society’s reaction to the girls’ relationships is not always positive

The moment when Ms. Baxter sees the girls in a compromising position is the climax of the story

The most substantial part of this novel is Liza’s recollections of her and Annie’s love story. The scene, where Liza writes a letter to Annie is foreshadowing of the story, for a reader understands that the girls used to be very close but something bad has happened

I would give anything to be suspended.
This quote of Chad is an example of understatement, for he tries to diminish importance of Liza’s suspension

The Bible, William Ernest Henley, J.R.R. Tolkien, Bach, Brahms, Plato

Imagery is often used to describe feelings and emotions of the girls

She might have asked to use your place instead of making you volunteer it.
To volunteer, one should be ruled with his or her own will. To make someone volunteer is a paradox

A woman came out of a house across the street, carrying a me sh shopping bag and leading a little dog on a lea sh .
The repetition of “ sh ” is an example of parallelism.

She’d given me an embarrassing lecture about setting an example and being her “good right hand”.
A good right hand is an example of metonymy, which denotes a helper.
But that afternoon there were a great many bloody Kleenexes being held to earlobes in various classes.
Bloody Kleenexes are an example of synecdoche, which denotes tissues

New York is personified as unfriendly