Literary Devices in The Rules of Survival
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Ah, Boston—the home of fine institutions of learning and ruby red lobsters. The entirety of The Rules of Survival is set in Boston, Massachusetts, where the Walsh kids have grown up their whole l...
Narrator Point of View
The narration in this book is a little unusual in that it busts out the second person narration style, directly addressing Emmy, while also heavily featuring first person narration, too, since the...
Genre
Family Drama Things are as dramatic in the Walsh household as they get. Nikki, the Walsh family matriarch, is basically a drama-producing machine and makes life pretty difficult for her kids. She i...
Tone
The entire tone of The Rules of Survival is a little bit of darkness and a whole lot of no-nonsense honesty. After all, it's told from the perspective of Matthew Walsh, who has lived through some d...
Writing Style
The writing style of The Rules of Survival is epistolary because it's told in the form of a long, confessional letter to Matthew's youngest sister, Emmy. According to Matthew, Emmy may not remember...
What's Up With the Title?
The Rules of Survival is an apt description of the kind of rules that Matthew, Callie, and Emmy must internalize as they grow up with their abusive mother, Nikki. In order to survive Nikki's wrath,...
What's Up With the Ending?
At the very end of The Rules of Survival, Matthew reveals that though the letter addresses Emmy, he's actually been writing it to himself this whole time. She'll never even read it: So. Emmy. Littl...
Tough-o-Meter
The Rules of Survival isn't the kind of book that's bogged down by flowery language and difficult-to-follow syntax… but it isn't for the inexperienced young reader, either. The book may have dece...
Plot Analysis
Mommy Dearest In the opening chapters of the book, we see that things are not going well in the Walsh household—not now, and pretty much not ever. Nikki, the mother, is abusive and unpredictable,...
Trivia
Author Nancy Werlin does have one thing in common with the Walsh kids—she grew up in Massachusetts, too. (Source) According to Werlin, she is drawn to tough subject matters (like abusive par...
Steaminess Rating
Sex isn't exactly at the forefront of Matthew's mind in The Rules of Survival, but that doesn't mean it's not mentioned in the book. Nikki's constant stream of male visitors is noted in the book, b...