Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
The main action take place in a little town in Arkansas named Lily but also in Ethiopia and other various towns in America. The year however is not clearly stated.
Narrator and Point of View
The novel is told by an anonymous narrator who recalls the events from a third person objective point of view.
Tone and Mood
Tragic, sad, hopeful
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists of the story are Cullen and Benton, and the antagonists are Benton’s father and Cabot.
Major Conflict
Because there are two different stories, there are two major conflicts. The first major conflict is between Benton and his father, a man not interested in his son’s future and well-being. His attitude is what pushes Benton to kill himself eventually. The second conflict is an internal one and is linked with Cullen. He becomes uncertain of his identity after Gabriel disappears and thus he is torn between his desire to express his feelings and the desire to appear much manlier than he was in reality.
Climax
The story reaches its climax when it is revealed that the woodpecker many believed to have returned was just a normal woodpecker.
Foreshadowing
When Cullen introduces Ada as the Black Widow and mentions that her ex-lovers all died foreshadows Russell’s accident.
Understatement
When the narrator reveals that Russell had a little accident is an understatement as it is later proven that Russell was severely disabled in the accident, becoming wheel-bound and unable to breathe on his own after it.
Allusions
It is alluded that Cullen’s mother used the woodpecker as a distraction from the fact that her son went missing. After only a few weeks, the mother almost forgot about her son and chose instead to focus on her work, giving haircuts resembling woodpeckers. Thus, she used her work as a coping mechanism to help her deal with the pain of losing one of her sons.
Imagery
N/A
Paradox
The relationship between Ada and Russell is paradoxical in the sense that Ada felt responsible for Russell’s accident, thinking that it must have been her bad luck that caused it. Despite this, she chose to remain by his side, even though she thought of herself as being the one responsible for his pain.
Parallelism
A parallel is drawn between Gabriel and the woodpecker thought to be extinct in the little town where the boys lived. The woodpecker and Gabriel are both anomalies in the sense that they stand out from the crowd and attract the attention of those near them. The two seem to be linked and this is also suggested by the fact that Gabriel disappears when the woodpecker first appears in the town. When Gabriel returns home, the woodpecker disappears form the town thus hinting that the two are somehow connected.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
In the sixth chapter, ‘’ anger boiling up from places he hadn't known existed’’.
