Literary Analysis #1

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

1. The setting takes place in Lexington, Kentucky winter of 1964. From the very beginning you have no insight of what is going to occur. The exposition displays a David Henry, a doctor, and his wife Nora rushing to the hospital for the birth of their first child. The couple seem completely in love, nothing out of the ordinary until David discovers his wife is giving birth to twins. Nora gives birth to a completely healthy boy, Paul and a girl, Phoebe, whom is born with Down's Syndrome. Scared of what might become of his daughter, he has a nurse Caroline Gill to take the baby away to an institute, but impulsively she leaves town and raises her as her own. The conflict arose when the "death" of their daughter has become a secret. A wall has been built between David and Nora's relationship, causing a strain on the family's relationship with one another as years pass. David lives his life through a camera, trying to make sense of life through his captured images and longing for the daughter he never knew. The climax occurs when David suddenly dies, his secret untold. Everyone is still coping with the death of David, routinely going about their lives. The resolution occurs when Caroline Gill pays a visit to Nora, she explains to her that her daughter still alive. At last Nora and Paul meet Phoebe, still in shock, but welcoming nonetheless.

2. The theme of the story I believe to be is the concept of time. We are only allotted a certain amount of time to perform actions. Ultimately we decide what we do with our time, we are promised right now and not tomorrow. Human motivation plays a big part of this as well. It is what guides us to make these decisions whether the outcome is right or wrong. All the characters face this at some point in the novel and each decision dramatically impacts each others lives whether they understand it or not. Their lives are in constant motion, often the characters want to pause, rewind and do things differently, but ultimately they cannot because time is always moving forward. Time stops for no one.

3. Solemn: this tone was present in many characters throughout the novel, no one got over the loss of Phoebe in their lives, so it was a constant struggle to survive, pg 368 'I'm okay, I'm okay, she had kept telling people who helped her out, who took her to the doctor. Brightly, unconcerned, blood seeping from her cuts: I'm okay. It was only later, alone and safe in her room, when she closed her eyes and felt the rush again, that loss of control, and wept. She felt this way now. Shaking, she held onto the edge of the table.

Bitterness: this tone was evident in each character, they were individually impacted by this secret and took out all these built up emotions on each other, playing a key element in the telling of this story, pg 200 "You and Mom." Paul said, his words bursting out, as if he'd been holding them back a long time. "What's wrong with you, anyway? You live like you don't care about anything. You don't have any joy." 

4. Foreshadowing: was present in the very beginning of this novel, the author foreshadowed that from that very moment on David Henry's actions would dramatically impact every character's futures: 

pg 17; He imagined her heart, the size of a plum and very possibly defective. He thought, Our world will never be the same.     

Theme: I believe to be is the concept of time. We are only allotted a certain amount of time to perform actions. Ultimately we decide what we do with our time, we are promised right now and not tomorrow. Human motivation plays a big part of this as well. It is what guides us to make these decisions whether the outcome is right or wrong. All the characters face this at some point in the novel and each decision dramatically impacts each others lives whether they understand it or not. Their lives are in constant motion, often the characters want to pause, rewind and do things differently, but ultimately they cannot because time is always moving forward. Time stops for no one.

Point of View: pg 6; Third person, Their eyes met then, and he was startled to see they were the same dark green as her coat. She smiled, amused and faintly dismissive.

Characterization: pg 173; To distract herself, she kept her gaze on Paul, who was running along the shore, a speck on the horizon. He was thirteen, and he'd shot up like a sapling in this last year. Tall and awkward, he ran ever morning as if he might escape from his own life.

Personification: pg 243; The undulating beach that was more than a beach, the curve of a woman's hip, then the smooth length of her leg, hidden among the dunes.

Setting: pg 241; April 1982, Caroline stood at the bus stop near the corner of Forbes and Braddock, watching the kinetic energy of the children on the playground, their happy shouts lifting up over the steady roar of traffic.

Dialogue:  pg 245; "David," she said. "Don't you know me?" He searched her face. "Have I changed so much? she whispered. "Caroline," he said at last, recovering. "Caroline Gill. An old friend," he added.

Tone: pg 247; bitterness is found in this passage displaying Caroline's anger towards David because up until recently he did not want anything to do with his daughter. "Do you really want to know?" she asked at last, looking at him straight in the eye, "Because you never wrote back, David. Except for that one time, you never asked a single thing about our lives. Not for years."

Imagery: pg 73; Paul, eleven months old, sat in the corner beside an old grape basket full of wooden blocks. He had just learned how to walk, and all afternoon he amused himself by stomping through this, their new house, in his first pair of shoes.