Synopsis: A man named Francis Phelan sees his father die while at a young age
and then accidentaly drops and kills his infant son Gerald. He then runs away
from his family and leads the life of a bum seemingly without morals. He travels
many places and kills many people but finally ends up in his own home town.
He finally confronts what he did by accidentally killing Gerald and goes back
to apoligize to his family. After doing this he goes back to being a bum until
all of his best friends die and eventually goes back to his family for good.
Themes: The two most prevalent themes are that nothing lasts forever and that
you should not judge a book by it’s cover. The theme that nothing lasts
forever shows itself when Francis’ friends who he had been with for many
years died and when his family finally forgave him for leaving them. The theme
that you should not judge a book by it’s cover shows itself in many places
like when Helen who seems to be a regular bum turns out to be a fabulous singer.
Point of View: The story is told sometimes through the third person omniscient
point of view when the main character is having a flashback but for the majority
of the book it is told from the first or third person.
Characters/types: Francis Phelan was the protagonist of the novel, Helen Archer,
Rudy Newton and Pee Wee were Francis’ best friends in the book. Annie
was Francis’ wife, Billy was his son and Gerald was also his son.
Figurative Language/literary devices: note extensive or unique uses as well
as describing the overall effect.
There are two literary devices that are mainly used in the story. The first
that is used extensively throughout the novel is flashback. All throughout the
novel Francis is remembereing past times and things that he had done before,
this helps to show why the character is the way that he is and what events caused
him to become like that. The second literary device that is used extensively
is apostrophe. It is used mainly when Fraancis is talking to dead people that
he had killed or caused to be killed. It shows the feeling that he has about
what he has done and caused in the past.
1. Which element was the most important to the development of the novel? Explain
why. There were two developments in the novel which were about equal in importance.
The first is when Francis accidentally dropped and killed his young son Gerald,
this is important because it causes Francis to run away and become a bum and
this sets the stage for most of the other events in the novel. The other event
in the novel that is very important to the development of the novel is when
Francis first returns to his home after visiting Gerald’s grave, this
is a very important part in the novel because it shows how Francis has changed
in his journey as a bum from what he used to be.
2. Identify the elements of plot below. Justify your answer.
A. initial incident: The initial incident of the novel was Francis dropping
his young son Gerald and killing him. This causes Francis to run away from his
family and become a bum which sets up almost the entire rest of the story and
begins the story of Francis’ journey.
B. climax: The climax of the novel was when after years of running away and
not seeing or speaking to his family, Francis finally returns home to see his
family. This is the point of greatest intensity in the novel because the rest
of the book showed Francis running away from his family but he finally came
back to confront what he had been so afraid to confront and to apoligize for
running out on them.
3. Give an example of conflict. Identify the type of conflict and how it is
/ why it is not
resolved. One of the many conflicts in this novel is between Francis and his
family. His family is angry at him for running away and Francis runs away because
he is afraid that they blame him for the death of Gerald. This conflict is resolved
when Francis finally returned home and apoligized to his family and some of
them had already forgiven him but others began to forgive him for running out
on his family.
4. Give an example of irony from the novel. Identify the type and explain how
or why
it is ironic. One example of dramatic irony in the novel is when Francis is
out looking for Helen but she is already dead and he just does not know it.
This is an example of dramatic irony because as the reader you know something
very important that the character in the play does not know, that the person
he is looking for is dead.
5. Identify a flashback from the novel and explain the effect of the use of
this device.
One example of a flashback in this novel is on page 75 when Francis is thinking
of one of the times that he killed someone and it says "What Francis recalled
of this unmanegeable situation was the compulsion to flight, the most familiar
notion, after the desire not to aspire, that he had ever entertained."
This use of a flashback helps to show that Francis was not just a cold blooded
killer but he remembered with remorse and a bit of shame what he had done to
that man that he killed and what the man had done to him.
6. Give an example of foreshadowing from the novel. Explain the effect of the
use of
this device.
One example of foreshadowing in the novel is on page 37 when Fancis and some
of his friends are out trying to take care of a drunk who is not allowed in
the mission and does not have any money to find a warm place to stay and it
says "‘The ambulance won’t even pick her up anymore,’
Peew Wee said. ‘Not unless she’s bleedin’ to death.’"
This foreshadows that Sandra will die because no one can help her anymore
7. From what point of view is the story told? What effect does this point of
view have
on the reader? The story is told mainly in the third person, sometimes in the
first person when someone is telling a story and sometimes in the third person
omniscient in flashbacks and some other places. The use of the three different
points of view helps the reader get a better idea of how each event affected
each character by how they reacted to it and how they sometimes told the same
story a different way.
8. Describe the setting of the novel.
The novel is set on the streets of 1930’s Washington and on the streets
of other towns when someone is having a flashback.
9. Identify two major characters from the novel. For each character: A. Identify
the
type. B. Give three quotes, with page numbers, which illustrates the character.
Character one: Francis Phelan
A. _Protagonist
B. _Page 53 "Francis wouldn’t stop drinking and then we couldn’t
pay the rent and we had to give up our pillowcases and our dishes."
___Page 69 "Helen’ll never amount to nothin’ if she stays with
me." ___
___Page 100 "I know them all my life… I don’t want people on
this block to see me looking like a bum."
Character two: Helen Archer
A. _________________________________________________
B. _Page 51 "I used to sing on the air every night, but that was an age
ago." ___Page 62 "I’ve carried that rosary for twenty years."
___ ___Page 82 "I don’t want to ever come back again
10. Give a one sentence statement of theme for the novel.
The two most prevalant themes of the novel are don’t judge a book by it’s
cover and nothing can last forever.
11. Identify one symbol from the novel and explain the symbolism.
One of the symbols in the novel was Francis’ clothes. When he changed
into new, clean clothes it symbolized him as a person changing as well.
12. Identify one allusion from the novel and explain the allusion.
One allusion from the book is when it refers to Francis having played for the
Washington Senators baseball team. This was an old baseball team that was fairly
well known at the time the book is set in.
13. Identify six different types of figurative language or literary devices
used in the
novel. For each type: A. Identify type. B. Give a quote with page number. C.
Explain
the effect.
B.
___Page 75 "What Francis recalled of this unmanageable situation was the
compulsionto flight, the most familiar notion, after the desire not to aspire,
that he had ever entertained."
C.
___The series of flashbacks that Francis has show the things that he did in
the past which caused him to become like he is today. It also shows that he
remembers and regrets many of the things that he had done.
B.
___Page 55 "… standing on her spindle legs with her tumorous belly
butting the metal stand of the microphone and giving her the look of a woman
five months pregnant…"
C.
___By giving a vivid description of the characters the author allows the reader
to form a sort of mental picture of what the character is supposed to look like.
B.
___Page 33 "She held no hymnal as the others did, but sat with arms folded
in defiant resistance to the possibility of redemption by any Methodist like
Chester; for Helen was a Catholic."
C.
___This use of indirect characterization shows that Helen is a very stubborn
women who is very set in her beliefs and faith._______________________________________________________________
B.
__Page 165 "You played with the Washington Senators."
C.
__This use shows that Francis was a well known baseball player and it also shows
where the story is set since Francis played for his home town team and they
were from Washington.
B.
___Page 64 "I said I saw Gerald’s grave. I talked to him."
C.
___This use of apostrophe shows the remorse that Francis had for accidentally
killing Gerald, he felt so bad that he even went to his grave to apologize to
him.
B.
___Page 179 "Is that your idea of restitution for letting us fend for ourselves
for twenty-two years?"
C.
___This conflict shows how angry Francis’ family was at him for having
run away from his problem and his family and didn’t even talk to them
about it.
