Next Door

Characterisation:
1. Mrs Leonards (Paul’s Mother)
 She is an overprotective mother who gets too worried about leaving her son home while she goes to the movies.

2. Mr Leonards (Paul’s Father)
 He does not worry about his son as he wants him to become a man at the age of 8.

3. Paul
 Smart for his age and tries to interfere with adult issues. This is shown as he tries to fix Mr.Harger and what appeared to be his wife’s marriage, technically it worked. 

Style:
Vonnegut’s style creates a very suspenseful atmosphere as it is leading to the ending which keeps the reader wanting to know what will happen next.
Point of View:
Kurt Vonnegut uses Third person limited point of view because the narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of Paul while the other characters are presented externally. This point of view helps to create the suspenseful mood because we don’t know what everyone is thinking. If this story was in third person omniscient we would know that the women behind the wall was not Mr Hargers wife, and the surprising effect at the end would not be there. 

Diction:
The author uses simple diction and uses much dialogue. This use of dialogue helps is that it helps with life-likeness. The writer wants the reader to believe or at least feel that the events described in the story are real or can really happen. The last words in the story are “Word Play”. When Pauls father asked his wife what was the smell coming from the ball found in Pauls pocket… ‘’Paul’s mother rolled her eyes. “Tabu,” she said.’’
When she said Tabu it meant the perfume named Tabu but also meant Tabu in the real meaning which is excluded from use or mention.
Mood: 
Vonnegut’s style creates a suspenseful atmosphere which gives a mood of suspense as the reader is suspicious as what is to happen next. Also, as it was overall a suspenseful story because the ending was completely unexpected

Tone:
The authors attitude and tone throughout the story is suspenseful as Vonnegut takes us on an adventure when we experience Paul’s first time being left alone at home.

Plot development:
Vonnegut uses an organized linear text set up. He begins the story with the Leonards deciding on leaving Paul alone while they go to a movie. From there, Vonnegut explains the sequential chain of events through the character of Paul.(This is not a full answer)

Theme:
The main theme in this short story is the theme of Appearance VS Reality. Vonnegut clearly portrays how the character of Paul jumped to the conclusion that he thought Mr. and Mrs. Harger were arguing. Vonnegut uses the character of Paul to portray how society may have reacted in the same situation.

Setting:
An old house divided into two dwellings by a thin wall that passed on, with “high fidelity”, sounds on either side. The Leonards lived on the North side and the Hargers lived on the South. It is the Leonards new home an they had just recently moved in. This creates a thrilling/suspicious effect because It is the Leonards new house and the wall separating them between their neighbors is extremely thin that everything can be heard. Also the fact that it is an old house adds to this suspenseful effect.