Genre
Non-fiction
Setting and Context
The author investigates the relations between the ideology crisis, mental health, and language.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is told from the first-person point of view. Percy Walker is both the protagonist and the narrator.
Tone and Mood
The tone is thoughtful while the mood is reflective.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Percy Walker or the Martian is the protagonist.
Major Conflict
It is person vs. ideology
“What does a man do when he finds himself living after an age has ended and he can no longer understand himself because the theories of man of the former age no longer work and the theories of the new age are not yet known?”
Climax
A climax, in its traditional meaning, is not reached in the book.
Foreshadowing
“This book is about two things, man’s strange behavior and man’s strange gift of language.”
This sentence foreshadows the events of the story, for this passage shows exactly what the book is about.
Understatement
“Why is it that scientists, who know a great deal about the world, know less about language than about the back side of the moon, even though language is the one observable behavior which most clearly sets man apart from the beasts and the one activity in which all men, scientists included, engage more than in any other?”
The author believes that the scientists underestimate the importance of language study.
Allusions
Allusions to different studies and scientific and nature phenomenon are traced in the book.
Imagery
Images of social realities are depicted in the narration.
Paradox
“How is man to be understood if he feels bad in the best environment?”
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
“At the end of forty years of preformulation and with the Grand Canyon yawning at his feet, what does he do?”
