Sarah, Plain and Tall Literary Elements

Historical Fiction

This story takes place in the late nineteenth century. The setting is on a farm on the open prairie.

This book is written in the first person narrative. The narrator is Anna. She is Jacob's eldest and only daughter. When Sarah comes, she likes her and wants her to stay but feels that Sarah doesn't want to stay for she misses her home by the sea. This brings her much worry because she, her father, Jacob, and brother, Caleb, like Sarah and want her to stay. She also feels a bit guilty at the beginning of the book because the night before her mother died she went to sleep disagreeing with her mother and not saying good night. And on top of that she feels a bit of an obligation to Caleb and taking care of him. The story unfolds under Anna's point of view and with Anna's feelings of the situations that happen.

The stories tone and mood is at first hopeful because, if Sarah decides to come and stay, they would have a mother and wife again. When she says that she can sing in one of her letters, that cheers all of them up for their mother who had died had also been able to sing. But then when Sarah comes, the mood becomes a little sadder and gloomy because she misses the sea and Anna can see that. Anna starts becomes a bit dispirited because she feels Sarah will not stay. Though it is a little sad in the middle it is also lighthearted and happy for they have fun in the fields with the sheep and in the barn sliding down hay dunes. The end of the book ends in a uplifting, happy way because Sarah decides to stay and there will be a wedding.

In this book there are very few characters and there is no major pro or antagonist.

The major conflict happens within Sarah herself. It is the problem of whether she should stay or go back to her home in Maine. She is lonely without the sea and misses it very much, as shown throughout the book. But if she leaves, she would be leaving behind Jacob, Anna, and Caleb, who, after getting to know, she cares for very much. This conflict must be resolved within Sarah and she must decide whether to stay or go back home by the sea.

The climax of the story is when Sarah goes to town alone, and they wonder if she will come back. Caleb feels that she wants to leave them because he is "loud and pesky" or that the "house is too small." He cries and wails for Sarah to come back. But then he sees a cloud of dust coming up the road and a yellow bonnet. He yells with joy that Sarah has not left them. When she gets out of the wagon, she tells all of them that, "... the truth of it is I would miss you more [than my old home]." This is the climax of the story because it is the deciding point of whether Sarah will stay or not. The whole story has built up to this critical point, where Sarah decides to stay.

The quote, "We waited and watched. I rocked on the porch and Caleb rolled a marble on the wood floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. The marble was blue," foreshadows much talk of the sea. This quote is when Anna and Caleb are waiting for Sarah to arrive. Caleb is rolling a blue marble. Sarah's home was by the "blue and green and gray" sea, so when Caleb is rolling a blue marble we know that the sea will somehow be connected to the story.

" 'What did I look like when I was born?'... 'You looked like this.' I held the bread dough up in a round pale ball." Here, Caleb is asking Anna what he looked like when he was born. Anna replies by holding up the dough in round shape. This is an understatement because Caleb didn't look like a lump of dough without any features when he was born. Though this is an understatement, Anna may have actually thought it to be accurate because when Caleb was born she really didn't think he was pretty. She actually thought of him as "homely and plain". So in her eyes, he may have truly looked like that, but at the same time it is an understatement for he didn't look like a lump of dough.

"We hung the flowers from the ceiling in little bunches. 'I've never seen this before,' said Sarah. 'What is it called?' 'Bride's bonnet' I told her." Sarah, Anna, and Caleb were out picking flowers and when they come back Sarah asks what a certain flower is called. It just so happens to be "Bride's Bonnet". This hints at the fact that Sarah and Jacob will marry each other in the ending of the book.

"I looked at the long dirt road that crawled across the plains..." This is imagery because it describes an ordinary dirt road in a captivating way. The word "crawled" really jumps out at you because you imagine the road like a snake, slithering along in the distance. It adds depth to her work. Another example of imagery is, "Sarah came in the spring. She came through green grass fields that bloomed with Indian paintbrush, red and orange, and blue-eyed grass." Colorful descriptions like this add another layer of captivity and interest.

One paradox in this book is, "And then the cousins and aunts and uncles had come and tried to fill up the house. But they couldn't." This is a paradox because it contradicts itself. All the relatives come into the house, so it must be full, yet it says that the house couldn't be filled. It still feels empty. Though it contradicts itself, it also seems true because this is what Anna says happened after her mother's passing. Though there are so many people in her house it still feels empty because her mother isn't there with her.

An example of parallelism is, "[the chickens] followed her, shuffling and scratching primly in the dirt." This is parallelism because two words of similar meanings are being used in succession. Another example is, "Do not miss the hills. Do not miss the sea." This is parallelism because it repeats the words, "Do not" for emphasis and gives rhythm to the sentence.

"Once I set four places at the table..." This is metonymy and synecdoche because the word "places" stands in for a plate, cup, knife, and fork. Instead of saying all of that, the author simply uses the word "places" to represent all of it. It is also a commonly used word, so we understand what it represents.

"... remembering the morning that Mama had died, cruel and sunny." This is personification because the author gives the morning the human characteristic of being cruel. Mornings aren't really cruel, but the author gives the morning that trait to help describe it.