Genre
Realism
Narrator
Unnamed
Point of view
Third-person, subjective
Tone
Dispassionate (straightforward reporting of emotions and actions)
Setting (time)
1968-2000
Setting (place)
In and around New England and the Northeast: notably the Boston area, New Haven, and New York City
Protagonist
Gogol, with Ashima and Ashoke as secondary protagonists
Major conflict
Gogol’smarriage to Moushumi begins to flounder
Rising action
Moushumi begins an affair with Dimitri, her old friend
Climax
Moushumi reveals to Gogol, on the train, that she is having an affair
Falling action
Gogol attends a final Christmas party at Pemberton Road
Foreshadowing
Moushumi encounters Dimitri’s name among a stack of letters at NYU; Gogol realizes that, on her trip to Palm Beach, Moushumi has not taken her bathing suit