Literary Devices in Marcelo in the Real World
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Francisco X. Stork, like Arturo Sandoval, is a Mexican-American lawyer who lives in Boston. Write what you know, right? Still, we think it goes a little deeper than that. But hey, we're Shmoop, and...
Narrator Point of View
While it might seem difficult for an author to write a book in the voice of a kid with language difficulties, Stork totally nails it. What better way to show us Marcelo's struggle than to let him s...
Genre
Given that Marcelo in the Real World was an honorable mention for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, judged by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, there's no question what genre it belongs...
Tone
When you've got a narrator who says, "Suffering and death do not affect me the way they seem to affect others," (4.34) you know you're either dealing with a psychopath or someone with emotional pro...
Writing Style
When you've got a character as interesting as Marcelo, why wouldn't you write from inside his brain? His internal music is reason enough to dive into his mindset whole hog. Because he sees the worl...
What's Up With the Title?
Marcelo in the Real World may be a mystery story, but the title's not mysterious at all. We learn what it means in the first chapter, when Arturo tells Marcelo he wants him to come to work in the l...
What's Up With the Ending?
We'll tell you what up: it's one of the most squee-inducing endings in YA lit. Finally, the moment we've been waiting for: Then she looks at me in a new way. It is a serious and tender look I've ne...
Tough-o-Meter
Marcelo in the Real World takes a few chapters to really get going, but once Marcelo gets assigned to work with Wendell, the book takes off like a freight train. It's a quick and easy read, with no...
Plot Analysis
Got Me a Tree House and Life is SweetWhen we first meet Marcelo, we learn that his life is pretty good. He gets paid to have brain scans, and has a summer job training equine-therapy horses. Plus h...
Trivia
Francisco X. Stork didn't write Marcelo entirely from imagination. He's also a Mexican-American lawyer, but don't worry, he's more of a Jerry Garcia than an Arturo. (Source.)You, too, can learn to...
Steaminess Rating
Okay, so there's no actual sex in Marcelo in the Real World, but we're giving it a PG-13 for all the sex talk, which gets pretty crude at times. If it were up to Marcelo, who still thinks sex is fo...
Allusions
Keith Jarrett (14.96)