Middle Passage Literary Elements

Middle Passage Literary Elements

Genre

Historical

Setting and Context

New Orleans in 1830

Narrator and Point of View

An unnamed, third-person omniscient narrator.

Tone and Mood

The tone is depressing; the mood is melancholic.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Rutherford is the protagonist; Papa Zeringue is the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel occurs when Rutherford manages to escape being forced to marry Isadora on the boat named the Republic.

Climax

The climax of the story is reached when Rutherford decides to stay on the ship, which travels all the way tp Africa to capture tribe members as slaves.

Foreshadowing

The mutiny of the sailors is foreshadowed by the brewing storm.

Understatement

The impact of racism is understated throughout the novel.

Allusions

The story alludes to the lives of the slaves making the journey in the Middle Passage.

Imagery

The imagery of the brutal capturing of tribe members is present in the novel.

Paradox

The fact that the Captain is philosophical, yet is content with slavery is an example of paradox in the story.

Parallelism

There is a parallel between what Rutherford witnesses and the actual atrocities that happened on slave ships.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

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