Genre
Collection of short stories
Setting and Context
Horror stories
Narrator and Point of View
The action in the story “The Premonition” takes place inside the house of Witney Paxon during the duration of one day.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood in the stories is a tense one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist in “Poor Bibi” is the dog and the antagonists are the people who try to kill it.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in “The White Cat” is between a healthy relationship and an unnatural attraction to another person.
Climax
The story “The Premonition” reaches its climax when Paxton realizes that his family is planning to commit murder.
Foreshadowing
In the story “The White Cat” the unnatural attraction Miranda feels towards her husband foreshadows the unnatural attraction she will feel towards the cat.
Understatement
At the beginning of the story “Poor Bibi” the narrator transmits the idea that Bibi is a human. This is however an understatement and it is actually proven that Bibi was a dog.
Allusions
The main allusion in the story “The Doll” is that without proper human interaction, a human ends up losing their humanity.
Imagery
We have an important imagery in “Bingo Man”, the story about a woman who is desperate to find a suitable match for herself. The woman is portrayed as being miserable and her state of mind is connected to the fact that she does not have a partner. Thus, the narrator transmits here the idea that loneliness creates miserable people.
Paradox
We have a paradox in “The White Cat”, the story about the unhealthy attachment. Julius bought a white cat for his wife to have her focus on someone or something else and to leave him alone. However, as soon as Miranda began to fixate on the cat, Julius became unhappy with the new situation.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Sex is used in the story “Bingo Man” as a general term to make reference to abuse.
Personification
We have a personification in “The Doll” in the sentence “the wooden table witnessed everything”.
