Literary Devices in Chime
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1900 SomethingOkay, so it's probably hard to imagine a time before lights and cars, but believe us when we say it wasn't really that long ago. Chime takes place...
Narrator Point of View
Briony tells her own story in Chime, and this first person narration helps makes the story both interesting and often confusing. As a narrator, Briony is sometimes the silent observer, sometimes a...
Genre
When it comes to genres, this book seeps like a swamp, reaching into a number of different categories. Written from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old witch with more than one secret to reveal...
Tone
From the very beginning, Briony speaks with hatred toward nearly everything in her path. Whether she is sarcastically questioning her father with lines like, "How do you know it won't hurt? Or did...
Writing Style
Why did I hesitate? I was afraid of awakening her, I suppose, which I'd call ironic if I were a poet, but I'm not, and anyway, I hate poetry. A poem doesn't come out and tell you what it has to say...
What's Up With the Title?
Chime is, in the end, a reference to the true identity of our main character and narrator, Briony. Born between the midnight chimes, Briony is a Chime Child, a person with a foot in the world of hu...
What's Up With the Ending?
In the last two paragraphs of the book, Eldric says he loves Briony and she believes him—and when she does, she finds she has renewed faith in herself. For the first time in forever, she believes...
Tough-o-Meter
When it comes to this book, some readers struggle to make sense of the unconventional narration and fantasy setting with all of its made up creatures, rules, and places—plus characters speak in a...
Plot Analysis
Doom, Gloom, and Things We HateBriony Larkin's life is one full of gloom. Her mother died in childbirth, and her stepmother became ill and died as well; her twin sister, Rose, is not all there ment...
Trivia
Briony wasn't always a Briony. Originally, Billingsley was writing a fairy story and Briony was named after a fairy. She turned out to be too prickly however, and as the story moved away from the f...
Steaminess Rating
The narrator and the characters of Chime never directly discuss sex or sexual acts, but they hint at it. Sure, there are young witches showing their naked backside, a drunken discussion about what...