Genre
Memoir
Setting and Context
Written in the context of reflection and recollection
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Sad and reflective
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of the memoir is Terry Tempest Williams.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that the author found blank journals by her late mother, and she was supposed to fill them to completion.
Climax
The climax comes when the author attains the age of fifty-four and starts writing her memoir to reflect her mother's opinions and experiences about life.
Foreshadowing
The flexibility of the pencil is underrated. The author uses the pencil to symbolize reality without a sham.
Understatement
The content of the journals kept on the shelves is understated. When Terry first saw the journals, they were cloth-bound and empty.
Allusions
The memoir is an allusion to philosophical meditation.
Imagery
The images of the journals in the shelves depict sight imagery.
Paradox
The main paradox is that when the author first comes across her mother's journals, she is shocked to learn that they are all empty and expected to fill all of them.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Self-sufficiency is used as a metonymy for courage and determination to face life with buoyancy.
Personification
N/A
