_Initial Incidents_: Thorold had taken “bounty money,” which was
offered to any one who joined the Nineteenth Regiment at a specified
time.
_Dramatic Climax_: “I slipped past the lines.”... “I was a
bounty-jumper.”
_Climax of Action_: Thorold’s promise to God and to Lincoln that he
would atone for the faith he had broken.
_Dénouement_ (of enveloping action as aided by inner narrative):
Thorold relinquishes the Forsland Embassy. This act, joined to the
confession, forms the expiation. In one sense, the whole rehearsed
story may be said to constitute the dénouement of Thorold’s life-long
struggle.
CHARACTERIZATION. Thorold is the chief figure, emphasized from
beginning to end by the author’s comment, by his own recollections, by
his son’s remarks to him, and by his own confession. The _struggle_ is
Thorold’s. What aspects has it?
The second figure is Framberg--dead. He is the _cause_ of the immediate
phase of the long struggle, the climactic phase. He is the contrasting
element, the heroic young man, even an alien by birth, who was
nevertheless a better American than Thorold. (Notice the information
given, page 262, about his foreign birth.) Through whom does the reader
get most of the information about Isador?
The third figure is Peter, a foil of another sort for his father. He is
the judge. “Our children are always our ultimate judges”--page 268. Is
Peter, at any point, inconsistent with your concept of a sixteen year
old boy? How do you account for the fact, with respect to authorship
and artistic purpose of the author? Are his personality and influence,
joined to that of Framberg’s, strong enough for the motivating force?
That is, would Thorold have told his story? Would he have given up the
ambassadorship?
SETTING, ETC. The narrator brings together in an apparently easy yet
powerful way in a tempo suited to the happenings in real life the
forces of half a century. (Compare with this management that in “The
Waiting Years.”) The action occurs within a single morning. Chicago
is kept before the reader by numerous references. The magnitude of
the narrative is increased by the spirit of Lincoln; the poignancy
of sentiment by the lilac fragrance, the picture of the hearse, the
reminiscence of the dead Lincoln.
PRESENTATION. How consistently does the author keep to the mind of
Thorold in exercising her power of omniscience? When she shifts to
the boy’s mind, do you feel a break in the unity? What alleviating
circumstances help to preserve the unity?
ATMOSPHERE. The tone is restrained, sad from the inner failure of the
man who has known worldly success; yet it is hopeful in the spiritual
outcome of the struggle and in the promise of the young boy Peter.
Is it character or setting which, in this story, contributes most to
atmosphere?