Cheaper By the Dozen Literary Elements

Semi Autobiographical Novel

The beginning to mid 19th century. Most of it takes place in New Jersey.

It is a first person narrative. “We” is used very frequently. It is a semi autobiographical novel, so two of the actual Gilbreth children wrote the book. Ernestine and Frank Jr. wrote it, so it is from their perspective, but they also write some parts from their siblings perspective, giving us an insight on what all the Gilbreth children thought.

The tone and mood is lighthearted and fun. Though some parts are painful for the children and they are upset and crying, the whole book is a fun account of their life. It is a happy tone and tell us all of the adventures of the Gilbreth family.

There isn't really a major pro or antagonist. The family has there problems and mishaps, but there is not just one person who is evil and out to get everybody.

Because this book is an account of the Gilbreth’s real life, there are many bad things that happen along the way. Just like any family, there are always the ins and outs, the good times and the bad. So there are many little riffs and problems, but there is no one major conflict.

Just like with the major conflict, there really is no one major climax of the whole story. However, in every little story told in the book, there is a climax. When Frank Jr. is left at a restaurant, the climax is when everyone realizes this and turn back around to get him. When the father is showing everyone their new house, the climax is when he tells them it was a mistake and brings them to their real house. But in the whole story together, there is no one big climax for the whole book.

When the father starts to allow his daughters to do the newest fashions, it foreshadows the fact that one day they will get to do all the newest fashions. He said, “The bare-teddies and six o’clock stockings are all right, I guess, but no painting, do you understand?” This foreshadows the fact that he will eventually relent to his daughters having the newest fashions.

An understatement is when Mr. Gilbreth is bringing everyone to show them there new home. Along the way he would point to old and rundown houses and say that it looks something like that, just maybe a bit worse. But that was an understatement because when they finally go to the house, it was really terrible and horrible. Of course, though, it was a joke and eventually he brought them to a really nice place.

The father always hints at the fact that his wife will have another child. When he introduces his children, after he last child he’d say, “we’re expecting the 1911 model sometime next month.” This hints at the fact that he will have many more kids, eventually a dozen.

The book has a very full description of the Gilbreth's home. The book says it was, "an old but beautiful Taj Mahal of a house with fourteen rooms, a two-story barn out back, a greenhouse, chicken yard, grape arbors, rose bushes, and a couple dozen fruit trees." This has a lot of imagery.

A paradox is when something at first doesn’t seem true, but then when you investigate further, it does seem true. Mr. Gilbreth said, when they were on vacation, “‘I have a way to teach you the code without any studying.” This at first seems not possible. The children would have to learn what to tap for each letter, but with Mr. Gilbreth’s method of unconsciously studying, the children do learn the code.

In the book, Mr. Gilbreth tells his children they were as “good as gold.” This is parallelism because the words have the same sound and length. It has a rhythm and repetition. It has a good flow.

When the father says, “Over the Hill to the Poor House,” the name of a show they once watched, it substitutes for saying, “one day my children will abandon me and I’ll be poor and have nowhere to go.”

Personification is when an nonliving object is given human characteristics, but in this book there isn't really any personification.