Genre
Coming of Age novel
Setting and Context
The novel was set during the Great Depression in 1932.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Hopeless, pessimistic, disheartening
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Odysseus O’Banion.
Major Conflict
There is a conflict between the orphanage and Odie's expectations.
Climax
The climax comes Odie meets his ant and discovers that she is his biological mother, and they live happily after.
Foreshadowing
Jack’s actions foreshadow various unreported incidents of children kidnappings.
Understatement
The cruelty of the orphanage is understated. The children are mistreated, which prompts Odie and his friends to steal money and escape.
Allusions
The story alludes to the struggles that orphans go through in life.
Imagery
The description of Odie’s kidnapping by a one-eyed man called Jack depicts a sense of sight to readers.
Paradox
The main paradox is that the orphanage that should be a heaven for orphans is cruel.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The orphanage is personified as cruel.
