Genre
A short story
Setting and Context
It is nowadays, though the place is not mentioned.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is the protagonist of the story – Annie; thus, it is a first-person narration
Tone and Mood
Tone and mode are sad, and the entire story is soaked with sorrow and even pain.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Annie, and the antagonist is humanity itself.
Major Conflict
The main conflict stands in the problem of people forgetting about ability to dream, about the ability simply to be happy with little things and details.
Climax
The climax is when Annie lets Ben swim into the sea.
Foreshadowing
Ben’s transformation into smaller and smaller creatures does not foreshadow anything good for him.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
The images of Ben’s transformations are provided
Paradox
The very possibility of a person to transform into an animal is paradoxical
Parallelism
It was all very peculiar. It was all very familiar.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“Ben”, I say to this small protruding head (“protruding head” is a metonymy for Ben)
Personification
N/A
