Genre 

Modernist Novel

Point of View 

First Person

Tone 

Ironic

Tense 

Past tense

Protagonist 

Bradley Pearson

Major conflict 

Bradley's need to break out of his writing block

Rising action 

Arnold Baffin's fight with his wife; Tutorials of Julian; Date at the opera with Julian Rachel's attempted seduction

Climax 

Arnold Baffin's murder

Falling Action 

Bradley's trial and conviction; Bradley's writing of his novel; Bradley's death

Foreshadowing 

Arnold's initial call to Bradley; Rachel's prediction of her fire; Bradley's threatening note to Arnold; Der Rosenkavalier; Bradley's destruction of Arnold's books