Toni Morrison: Essays Literary Elements

Toni Morrison: Essays Literary Elements

Genre

Essays

Setting and Context

The essays are written in the context of politics and race.

Narrator and Point of View

First-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Bleak, inquiring, heartrending

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonists are Simpson, Bill Clinton, John, Ardelia and Anita Hill.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is when Bill Clinton is described as the first black President of the United States of America. Bill Clinton is labelled black because of his background, which displays attributes such as poverty and single parenthood.

Climax

The climax is when Ardelia becomes optimistic that her faith will lead her to defeat racism.

Foreshadowing

Painting Bill Clinton as the First Black President foreshadows the unending racism in the United States of America.

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

The essays allude to racism. For instance, being black is associated with poverty, desperateness, and failure.

Imagery

The imagery of color depicts the sense of sight to readers. For instance, blackness is associated with misfortunates in life. Similarly, the images of Greek history also enhance vision for readers.

Paradox

The main paradox is in the essay ‘The Dead of September 11’ in which the author speaks with dead victims of the attack.

Parallelism

The essay ‘Black Matters’ parallels ‘On the Blacks of Blacks’ and other essays that focus on racism and mistreatment of the blacks.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

The ‘Lewinsky scandal’ is humanized.

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