Genre
short stories and essays
Setting and Context
New York City, time not specified
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: omniscient
Point of view: third person
Tone and Mood
Tone: indirect
Mood: nightmarish
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: a worker at a bank called Jim; Antagonist: racial prejudice and segregation
Major Conflict
A comet falls on New York City extinguishing all lives except Jim, an African-American bank worker and Julia, an upper class white woman.
Climax
In their acceptance of their fate and mutual understanding of them depending on each other, Jim and Julia are suddenly pushed back to reality as other survivors discover them, among which is Julia's father.
Foreshadowing
"Everybody," he said, and he walked slowly back with something filmlike in his hand which he stuffed into his pocket.
-Jim returns to his home only to discover that his entire family is gone. The something filmlike that he retrieves is a baby's cap, and it foreshadows the reunion with his acquaintance (most likely wife) at the end.
Understatement
"Of course they wanted him to go down to the lower vaults. It was too dangerous for more valuable men."
-an understatement of racial oppression and an African-American man's life being less valued
Allusions
An allusion to Adam and Eve and creation of life:
"He was no longer a thing apart, a creature below, a strange outcast of another clime and blood, but her Brother Humanity incarnate, Son of God and great All-Father of the race to be."
Imagery
Imagery of a life suddenly extinguished on the streets of New York City with bodies scattered around in position they were in before dying creates a nightmarish atmosphere.
Paradox
"Yes-I was not-human, yesterday," he said.
Parallelism
"Few noticed him. Few ever noticed him save in a way that stung."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The messenger-in reference to Jim and his position
Personification
"...and blackness yawned beyond."
