Genre
Historical fiction
Setting and Context
The setting spans several centuries and revolves around a single house located in New England.
Narrator and Point of View
The novel features multiple narrators and employs a diverse range of points of view.
Tone and Mood
The tone is haunting, atmospheric, and contemplative. The mood is eerie, poignant, and reflective.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists include Charles Osgood, Mary and Alice, William Henry Teale, and Emily Farnsworth. The antagonistic forces are jealousy, internal strife, and mental health challenges.
Major Conflict
The major conflict emerges from the intertwining lives of the characters that span different eras. It revolves around themes of love, jealousy, familial relationships, and the mysteries surrounding the house in New England. The central conflict varies across characters, which encompasses familial tensions, unrequited love, tragic events, and the haunting legacy of the house.
Climax
The climax occurs when Morris witnesses a surreal occurrence involving an encounter with a mysterious woman, Alice Osgood.
Foreshadowing
"Late December, and she haunts the house he left her. Rises in the morning and walks its rooms, its stairs and corridors, opens doors, just looking. Ghosts everywhere. She senses them, knows that there is no such thing."
The haunting atmosphere and the emphasis on ghosts within the house foreshadow unresolved events later in the narrative.
Understatement
"Not anything!"
This brief statement reflects Charles' exasperation with the limitations of what the land they were initially granted could grow.
Allusions
The narrative alludes to historical events such as the French and Indian Wars and the Revolutionary War.
Imagery
"Tracks of little animals, the deep steps of the deer. The snow renders their passage legible, reveals the long night’s silent maps."
This passage uses imagery related to nature and the visual description of animal tracks in the snow.
Paradox
"She senses them, and knows that there is no such thing. Sometimes seeks his presence."
Emily acknowledges a contradiction by stating that she senses ghosts but knows there is no such thing.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Osgood's daughters in terms of unrequited love and thwarted desires. Mary's jealousy and unrequited love lead to tragic consequences between her and Alice's suitors.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
"The whole house breathes, always has. Creaks and tilts. Cracks and whispers with the cold."
This statement gives the house human qualities.
