Genre
The novel is a dramatic fiction.
Setting and Context
The setting is in the city of Alexandria during and after World War II.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is a young Englishman who moved into the city of Alexandria and experienced it. He narrates the events as he remembers them. He is resigned to the events that occurred for he is aware that he cannot be able to change anything that happened in the past.
Tone and Mood
The tone is a resigned one for he is narrating events that had already taken place and he understands that he is not able to change any of them.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The story has no definitive protagonist or antagonist for it merely tells events as they happened.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the novel is when Justine and Darley are trying to hide their affair from Nessim who is Justine's husband.
Climax
The climax of the story is arrived at when Nessim finds out about the affair of his wife and the narrator. He feels betrayed by them such that in his anger, he shoots one of his friends, Capodistria who miraculously survives.
Melissa succumbs to tuberculosis while Darley flees to a small island in Greece. Justine also flees the city.
Foreshadowing
The story about an exhausted camel that is killed in the streets without protesting is a foreshadowing of the death of Melissa for she finally succumbed to tuberculosis after a long illness.
Understatement
When Justine is gravely ill, she understates her illness by claiming that it is not a matter of medical interest while everyone can see that she is gravely ill.
Allusions
The novel uses historical allusion because just like how Cleopatra was wrapped in a rug and transported to the king, so did the narrator do for Melissa when she was sick. He wrapped her in a soft rug and took her to his room.
Imagery
Description of the city of Alexandria: on page 20 of the novel, the narrator describes Alexandria as,”.... Long sequences of tempera. Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick dust — sweet smelling brick-dust and the odor of hot pavements slaked with water. Light damp clouds, earth-bound yet seldom bringing rain. Upon this squirt dust-red, dust-green, chalk-mauve and watered crimson-lake. In summer the sea-damp lightly varnished the air. Everything lay under a coat of gum.” The narrator uses descriptive words, adjectives to bring about imagery in this description. These words include, ‘dust-red’ and ‘chalk-mauve’
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
The author draws a parallel between Melissa who is soft spoken and accepts her fate and Justine who is a strong woman that always fights the system.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The sea has been personified in the statement,"....sea water licking its own wounds."
