A People's History of the United States Literary Elements

A People's History of the United States Literary Elements

Genre

Non-fiction/speculative history

Setting and Context

American History

Narrator and Point of View

Told through Zinn's Socialist point-of-view

Tone and Mood

Historical, Chaotic, Energetic, Revolutionary, and Violent

Protagonist and Antagonist

Not very applicable, although some could interpret the protagonists of the book to be those impacted by racism (black people and Native Americans, mainly) and poor people. The antagonists could be considered racist people and rich people.

Major Conflict

Not very applicable, although Zinn oftentimes mentions class conflict (between rich and poor) and the conflict between racists and those impacted by said racism (mainly black people).

Climax

As a nonfiction book, this is not applicable.

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

The grave danger the United States was in during WWII was understated in the chapter that covered the war.

Allusions

To history, books (by Marx, Engels, and Alinsky, particularly), popular culture, geography, religion, mythology, and the Bible.

Imagery

Throughout the book, Zinn uses stark imagery to paint a grim picture of, for example, the grim conditions that faced Africans who became slaves

Paradox

Zinn argues that World War II was mostly unpopular. However, by every metric, it was not.

Parallelism

Zinn often draws parallels between the story of the Native Americans and Black people in America.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The term "War on Terrorism" is synonymous with the Bush Presidency and the 2000's.

Personification

The U.S. government is often personified in the book.

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