Literature Analysis

Broken for You

Stephanie Kallos

1) The novel takes place in Seattle.  Margaret, the main character, has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is given only a short time to live.  After leaving the doctor's, she asks a lady at a cafe what she should do with her life.  The waitress says she would make changes in her relationships.  This inspires Margaret to take in a boarder in her mansion.  Her boarder is Wanda, a young woman working as a stage director, who is in Seattle in search of her ex-boyfriend.  Wanda's parents abandoned her as a child, so she is alone, and Margaret's parents have died as well as her son.  Her husband cheated on her and left her, so she is living in the mansion alone until Wanda comes, her only friends being the china and trinkets filling the home.  Both of them are broken for different reasons.  The two become close friends after Margaret invites Wanda to partake in a session of smashing her china.  Margaret feels guilty about the china because she knows her father stole it from Jewish families during WWII.  Margaret is able to return some of the china to its owner, a Holocaust survivor, and Wanda finds that she loves to create mosaics with the broken china she and Margaret created.
2) The theme of the novel is acceptance.  Acceptance of others, acceptance of your past, your memories, your future, and the things you cant change.  Margaret had to accept that she had a brain tumor, and then chose not to let that stop her.  Both Margaret and Wanda had to accept that although they were abandoned, there were still people out there to love and take care of them.  They also learned to let down their walls and accept each other as close friends or family.
3) The author's tone is very personal and thoughtful.  It begins quite melancholy but starts to look up as the story progresses.  It is written in the first person, and switches point of views between Margaret and Wanda.
4) A few techniques the author uses are personification, imagery, figurative language, syntax, and symbolism.
The trinkets in Margaret's home speak to her, and they all have personal qualities.
Imagery and figurative language is used throughout the book, especially in describing people and objects.
The author's syntax includes speaking in the first person, which allows you to see the pain behind the characters.
The breaking of the china and putting it back into a mosaic to create art is a symbol of the lives of Margaret and Wanda.  They were both broken but are able to fix what has happened to the best of their ability.