Genre
Novella
Setting and Context
The novel is written in the context of war government strategies.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Suspicious, optimistic, ambiguous
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Richard Elster.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is when Elister is invited to a government meeting and realizes that he is supposed to help draft strategies that can help the government maintain wars. It is a paradoxical conflict because the government supposed to maintain peace and stability is strategizing on how to maintain the war.
Climax
The climax is when Elister meets with his loving daughter in the desert and introduces her to Jim.
Foreshadowing
The secretive government meeting with the protagonist foreshadows the main reason for the country’s instability.
Understatement
The roles of a government are understated because it is insensitive for those in authority to draft plans of destabilizing the same nation they lead.
Allusions
The story alludes to the enigmatic nature of governments.
Imagery
Hearing imagery is depicted when the narrator says, “My wife said to me once, `Film, film, film. If you were any more intense, you'd be a black hole. A singularity, she said. `No light escapes.”
Paradox
The main paradox is that the government is recalling back Elster to help it strategize on how to launch and maintain wars! The reader expects the meeting to be about the stability and development of the country.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
War is personified as futile.
