The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Download PDF

Literary Devices

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony is a literary device in which the reader knows more than the characters do about a situation, which builds tension and interest in the book. For example, Moore uses dramatic irony because the reader always knows more about the dangers of radium than the characters do. This is partly constructed through the historical nature of the book, which takes place in the 20th century before the atomic bomb was developed and before other notable radiation-related disasters, such as Chernobyl and Fukushima. It is also constructed through the narrative structure, where Moore switches between Orange and Ottawa and between characters who never meet but undergo similar struggles.

Third-Person Omniscient Point of View

The third-person omniscient point of view is a storytelling method where the author or narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of all characters in the story. It is useful for revealing the motivations and personalities of characters in a complex story. For most of the book, Moore writes in a third-person omniscient point of view. For example, Chapter 16 reveals Arthur Roeder’s intentions, frustrations, and mood through his perspective. In this passage, Moore calls Marguerite Carlough “the Carlough girl,” which is a disparaging way to describe the young woman when Moore simply uses her name in the rest of the book. In doing this, Moore makes interpretation and characterization easy for the reader to follow, lending the book a literary feel with slightly fictionalized accounts of the characters’ lived experiences.

Figurative Language

Moore makes frequent use of metaphor and simile when describing radium and those who are work with it. The women are likened to ghosts as the radium settles onto their hair and clothes and they begin to glow in the dark. As Hazel Vincent’s teeth fall out, Moore writes, “they were like old friends dying off” (86), imbuing the teeth with meaning and nodding to Hazel’s friends who were also “dying off.” Radium is personified as a character that stalks the pages of the book. It is characterized as magical, menacing, and powerful as more discoveries are made. Still, radium is always portrayed as a sinister substance that slowly harms those who are exposed to it.