Key Facts
full title ·
Go Ask Alice
author · Anonymous (some believe it is Beatrice Sparks, one of the editors)
type of work · Non-fiction diary
genre · Bildungsroman (coming-of-age); epistolary; drug-alcohol
language · English
time and place written · late 1960s, The United States
date of first publication · 1971
publisher · Avon Books
narrator · Alice
climax · Alice is freed from the mental hospital and decides to commit her life to staying clean and helping others
protagonist · Alice
antagonist · Drugs; society as a whole
setting (time) · Late 1960s
setting (place) · An unidentified college town; San Francisco/Berkeley; Oregon
point of view · Alice's first-person diary entries
falling action · The epilogue reveals that Alice died of an overdose several weeks after her last diary entry
tense · Immediate past tense
foreshadowing · Alice's nightmares about maggots and worms eating her grandparents' corpses materialize in her overdose-driven hallucinations.
tone · Alternating between naïve and world-weary
themes · Difficulty of communication; problems of adolescent identity
motifs · Counterculture and drugs; sexual assault
symbols · Maggots and worms
