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Genre 

Modern American novel; Jewish-American novel

Narrator 

Omniscient narrator

Point of View 

Third person, with narratives hat include the contents of certain characters' minds.

Tone 

Serious, with touches of irony in the Yiddish style

Tense 

Past tense

Setting (time) 

Sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s

Setting (place) 

Brooklyn, New York

Protagonist 

Martin Bober

Major conflict 

Frank Alpine's struggle to control him self and be a good person

Rising action 

The robbery of the grocery store, Frank's thefts in the grocery store, Frank's rape of Helen Bober, Morris Bober's illnesses

Climax 

Morris Bober catching Frank stealing and Frank's rape of Helen.

Falling Action 

Morris Bober gives up on life and dies Frank Alpine symbolically becomes born again Frank Alpine takes over and manages the grocery store Frank Alpine learns to control his self

Foreshadowing 

Frank's role in the robbery Frank's stealing from the store Frank's voyeurism of Helen.

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