Red Dust Road Literary Elements

Autobiography, Novel, A Memoir.

The setting of the novel includes Africa, Abuja, Nigeria and Scotland and the story has been written in the context of search for identity and birth parents.

The narrator of the story is Jackie Kay and the story has been narrated from her point of view I.e. from first person's point of view.

Nostalgic, Solemn, Grave, Chaotic, Curious, Pensive.

The protagonist of the book is Jackie Kay and the antagonists are her parents who abandoned her and the racist society which tortured her because of her color.

The major conflict in the story is between Jackie Kay and her identity. As she was an adopted child so she didn't know about her culture and identity. She strives to know about her identity and her parents who abandoned her after her birth. Another conflict is between Jackie Kay and her parents who do not accept her.

The climax in the story comes when Jackie Kay meets her parents.

The title of the novel foreshadows a journey which is Jackie Kay's journey in search of her parents and identity. Jackie's color foreshadows the color of her parents.

The understatement in the novel is that a person gets a lot of habits and personality traits from his or her parents. Another understatement is the racist attitudes prevailing in society which are deteriorating families and individuals to the core of their hearts. The adoption of children and its impact have also been understated in the novel. Furthermore, the concept of sin and its ironical implications are also an example of understatement in the book.

There are allusions to adoption, foster parents, birth parents, adultry, sin, devotion, sinful life, pardon, Catholic Church, Mormons, abduction of child, pregnancy, curiosity, familial traits, imagination, racism, bullying, oppression, betrayal, family life, marriage, relationships, devoted life, Christ, prayers and types of adopted childs.

There are images of Jackie Kay yearning for her birth parents. Although her foster parents take great care of her and she was happy with her life but still she wanted to know about her real family. There are images of Kay reuniting with her family and then being humiliating by them. Her parents consider her a symbol of their sinful lives so they ward her away from them. They didn't want reconcile with her. There are images of Kay's father getting irritated because of her. He believes that she is not a good Christian.

The author has also portrayed her foster parents as loving her selflessly. Kay has been presented as striving for her identity. She is also portrayed as getting bullied at her school because of her color. There are images of racism and prejudice against Kay because her father was an African. The author has depicted Kay as becoming happy after meeting her sisters and knowing that they look like her. She achieves a sense of identity after knowing her family.

The paradox in the story is that Kay loves her birth parents but they refuse to meet her. Even after meeting her, they don't accept her as their daughter and consider her a symbol of their sinful life.

Parallelism has been drawn between Kay's foster parents and her birth parents. Her foster parents love her despite of the fact that she is their adopted child but her birth parents didn't want to see her. In fact, they abhor her because of her existence.

An example of metonymy is Kay who represents all the adopted children who remain curious about their birth parents and family. An example of synecdoche is Kay's father who was a born again Christian. His refusal to accept Kay alludes towards his forgetfulness of his sins.

Sin, love, and adoption have been personified in the novel.