Literary Analysis of a Family Scene

Setting

• The story takes place on a rainy day in September, in the evening when the light is failing.
• The scene is set in the grandmother's kitchen, where she sits with the child near the Little Marvel Stove.

Grandmother's Actions

• The grandmother reads jokes from the almanac to the child, trying to hide her tears.
• She cuts bread and prepares tea for the child.
• She tidies up the kitchen and hangs the almanac on its string.
• She adds more wood to the stove when she feels the house is chilly.

The Child's Actions

• The child watches the teakettle's steam rising from the stove, comparing it to the rain outside.
• The child draws a picture of a rigid house with a winding pathway, and adds a man with buttons like tears.
• The child secretly places a flower bed in the front of the house.

The Almanac

• The grandmother believes the almanac predicts the rain and her own tears.
• The almanac is hung on a string in the kitchen, hovering above the grandmother and child.
• The almanac says "I know what I know" and "Time to plant tears".
• Little moons fall from the almanac's pages into the flower bed.

The Little Marvel Stove

• The stove is the central heating source in the kitchen.
• The iron kettle sings on the stove.
• The grandmother talks to the stove, saying it is to be, implying a sense of destiny.
• The stove is personified as a character that responds to the grandmother's actions.