Literary Devices in My Heartbeat
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
A Look BackIn "A Look Back," written ten years after the publication of My Heartbeat, Garret Freymann-Weyr discusses how changing the setting of her initial idea helped to flesh out the story:I wro...
Narrator Point of View
My Heartbeat is written from Ellen's wide-eyed perspective, which lends the story a sweet, naïve incredulity that is hard not to like. Her observations on everything that is happening around her a...
Genre
Family DramaThis story focuses on the McConnell family and the conflicts that arise when Link's sexuality is questioned. There is a lot of angst about parental judgment, expectations and familial a...
Tone
Freymann-Weyr does a solid job of creating a voice for Ellen that matches her description to a tee. Ellen isn't necessarily a vivacious or loquacious narrator. No, she's quiet, and introverted, and...
Writing Style
The title of the book might lead you to think it'd be full of flowery language and verbose descriptions of wistful expressions of love, but you'd be pretty wrong. In fact, Freymann-Weyr is downrigh...
What's Up With the Title?
Ellen and Link's Dad has a saying that he's been repeating to them since they were little kids:Geeky is one of Dad's favorite words, and I listen with glee to my brother's imitation of our father:...
What's Up With the Ending?
Sometimes you get to the end of a book and you find yourself disappointed. Maybe there isn't enough closure, maybe your favorite character dies, or maybe it's too neat and tidy and saccharine. That...
Tough-o-Meter
My Heartbeat isn't clogged up with difficult prose or words that are so multisyllabic you need to sound them out. It does, however, have some difficult themes to contend with, such as questioning o...
Plot Analysis
The Three AmigosFor as long as she can remember, Ellen, James, and Link have been an inseparable trio. Link and James debate the qualities of foreign films and classic movies, and Ellen just loves...
Trivia
As a kid, Garret Freymann-Weyr thought writers were universally really weird. Probably because the ones her parents knew, uh, were. (Source.) When she's depressed, Freymann-Weyr turns to animal cra...
Steaminess Rating
There's a lot of thinking about sex in My Heartbeat, but thankfully for the censors (or the folks who love to ban books), there's only one actual sex scene, and it's pretty darn mild. Ellen and Jam...
Allusions
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome (2.18)Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (2.36)Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (3.31)Joseph Conrad (4.35)Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (4.39)Anto...