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.
