Literary elements present in "Children on Their Birthdays"

Theme – First love

Characters – Miss Bobbit, Sister Rosalba, Aunt El, Billy Bobby, Cora McCall, Mrs. Sawyer, Ollie Overton, Mr. Henderson, Manny Fox, Miss Adelaide, and Mr. Buster Riley

Characterization –

• Direct: “…for out of the red road dust appeared Miss Bobbit. A wiry little girl in a starched, lemon colored party dress, she sassed along with a grown-up mince, one hand on her hip, the other supporting a spinsterish umbrella.” (Capote, 135) 
• Indirect: “…“My mother is a very fine seamstress; she has made dresses for the society of many cities and towns, including Memphis and Tallahassee. No doubt you have noticed and admired the dress I am wearing. Every stitch of it was hand-sewn by my mother. My mother can copy any pattern, and just recently she won a twenty-five-dollar prize from the Ladies’ Home Journal. My mother can also crochet, knit and embroider. If you want any kind of sewing done, please come to my mother. Please advise your friends and family. Thank you.” And then with a rustle and a swish, she was gone.” (Capote, 137)

Plot –
Introduction: There is a town, where nothing ever happens and then, a little girl called Miss Bobbit arrives.
Conflict: All the guys fall in love with her.
Climax: Miss Bobbit finds a little girl from Africa, Sister Rosalba, who is as different as Miss Bobbit is in the town
Anticlimax: The boys fight for Miss Bobbit, a friendship that seems so strong, is broken by this little girl
End: A bus ran over Miss Bobbit

Causality – As Miss Bobbit was so different, all the boys fell in love with her

Foreshadowing – Circular story, you know the end as it is said in the beginning

Mood - Drama

Resolution/Denouement – Miss Bobbit’s death makes everyone return to their lives and makes them stop thinking about a change and the extraordinary things.

Setting –Small town in Alabama

Point of View – third person

Narrator – omniscient


Capote, Truman. The complete stories of Truman Capote. New York: Vintage Internacional, 2005.