Literary Devices in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
If you've ever visited New York City, you'll recognize many of the locations in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. If you live there, you'll probably recognize them all. Virginia lives...
Narrator Point of View
This is Virginia's story, and Virginia's the one who tells it. She doesn't hold anything back, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that communication isn't exactly her family's strong point. It'...
Genre
If a novel is a Printz Honor Book, you can be sure it's young adult lit—after all, they don't give this award to dead white guys who write about all being quiet on the Western front. The narrator...
Tone
Carolyn Mackler is really good at writing in a teenager's voice, even though she's an adult. She remembers what it was like to be young and awkward, which makes Virginia's voice totally authentic....
Writing Style
If you've ever read Fitzgerald, Faulkner, or Flaubert, think of the exact opposite. This isn't lofty literature; it's easy to follow and full of teen slang. In other words, if you can follow your f...
What's Up With the Title?
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is a heckofa title, to say the least, but what does it mean? It takes quite a while to figure out, but once we do, it's totally worth the wait. Someti...
What's Up With the Ending?
The book starts and ends with Virginia kissing Froggy Welsh, but under radically different circumstances. In the beginning, Virginia's following the Fat Girl Code of Conduct, which states that all...
Tough-o-Meter
The prose in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things isn't challenging, but the book does get off to a bit of a slow start. At first, it appears to be another litany of everyday problems by...
Plot Analysis
Yup, It's the PitsHow is Virginia's life awful? Let us count the ways:She likes a boy, but she can't act like it in public for fear of embarrassing him with her hideous, fat body.Her parents are as...
Trivia
Eyebrow piercings aren't done with a gun like ear piercings at the mall; they're done by a professional piercer with a needle (or at least they should be). (Source.)Walla Walla, Washington actually...
Steaminess Rating
We're not saying this is a book you shouldn't read if you're under seventeen, but be prepared for lots of sex talk, because while we don't actually see anyone getting it on, there's a lot of thinki...
Allusions
The Scarlet Letter (5.66)A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf (6.51)Maya Angelou (6.51)e.e. cummings (6.51)Pablo Neruda (6.51)Allen Ginsberg (6.51)Nathaniel Hawthorne (8.109)One Hundred Years o...