Riley Grady

Mrs. Cataldo

AP Language and Composition

3 December 2012

Quote Page # Rhetorical Element Effect"I am an invisible man"

3 Metaphor This specific metaphor is thoroughly mentioned throughout the novel representing the protagonist, the narrator, and symbolizing the world's occasional unawareness to him.

"And, alas, it's seldom successful."

4 Alliteration By doubling the beginning sound in seldom and successful, Ellison draws attention the scarcity of the narrator making people see him and know that he exists, figuratively.

"'Yes, and I suppose the cabin opened up and told him its life history and all the choice gossip?'"

138 Personification This Example of personification is used sarcastically to express the unlikely hood that the narrator brought Mr. Norton to the woods because he "insisted" upon it. (Ellison 138).

"to caress her and destroy her, to love her and murder her,"

19 Epistrophe

Antithesis

The repetition of the pronoun her emphasizes that the multiple thoughts and actions running through the narrator's mind are all directed towards the woman.

By putting certain phrases that mean opposite things such as love and murder juxtapose in parallel structure show the narrator's struggle with his feelings because he is feeling guilty by looking at the woman but also lustful.

"Bear with me." 14 Hortative/Imperative Sentence

This command placed at the end of the prologue forewarns the reader that the narrator's journey will be hard and that they must bear with him.

"The end was in the beginning"

571 Sententia This cliché phrase which usually means a person has come full circle is applicable to the narrator and his situation as he has finished his journey of life and now is back in his home and where he started.

"He sounded as though he might crunch me between his teeth like a crisp ginger cookie"

22 Consonance The use of the hard "c" sound in crunch, crisp, and cookie, create a threatening tone and allow this passage, even though it includes a cookie, sound more life-threatening than normal.

"Silence of sound" 13 Oxymoron By using a word that contradicts itself, it makes the reader stop and think about what it's saying, which is that because the narrator is invisible he can feel the music instead of hear it and through these compulsions of music he can understand his being.

"That makes me kin to Ford, Edison, and Franklin,"

7 Eponym The use of Ford, Edison, and Franklin directly connects these men's skills of invention and innovation to the narrator's tinkering abilities.

"I could see the role which I was to play as plainly as I saw Jack's red hair"

514 Simile As the narrator adapts to the organization he can see why they have him as plainly as one could see red hair because it stands out with its vibrancy.

"Can I give you a hand?"

378 Synecdoche This phrase establishes setting and relationship between the narrator and Brother Tarp, because while the narrator is polite he uses a slang term to show comfortable relations with brother Tarp.

"She was a short yellow woman"

328 Epithet The use of referring to this woman as yellow shows setting and how Asian peoples were referred as yellow because of their skin tone in the 50's.

"I…simply followed in their shadows,"

137 Hyperbole Exaggerating and saying the narrator is following in their shadows shows that he was following very closely.

"He's high as a Georgia Pine."

87 Allusion

Simile

By referring to Georgia pine trees the reader can understand that the trees are very tall, assuming the man was extremely high.

Ellison is saying he is very drugged up by using the colloquial term high and saying he is as high as a very tall tree.

"It was as though I had suddenly found myself in a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths."

21 Analogy As the narrator is being blindfolded his emotions are directly known by him comparing his situation to that of an equally frightening but more relatable one.

"He had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity."

16 Juxtaposition By putting meekness and dangerous together it shows the absurdness of what the narrator's grandfather is saying thus explaining his confusion with his last words.

"Our life is a war" 16 Metaphor This represents that African Americans had harder lives, almost as if they were at war. It establishes setting.

"The old man's words were like a curse."

17 Simile His words obviously were not a curse but this comparison is thoroughly mentioned in the novel because his words forever followed the narrator and affected his way of thinking at times.

"I am nobody but myself."

15 Sententia The use of a cliché phrase allows the reader to understand that he, the narrator, cannot be anybody but himself and must remember this philosophy to achieve the best life possible.

"He bumped me, he insulted me."

14 Symploce It emphasizes the relation between the two characters and shows that he, the man the narrator beat up, and me, the narrator. The narrator is emphasizing that this stranger started the physical and verbal contact.

"I'd like to hear five recordings of Luis Armstrong playing and singing "What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue""

8 Allusion Not only does this allusion establish setting with its reference to Louis Armstrong's music, it establishes mood by allowing the reader to see exactly what the narrator was feeling with his choice of music.

"This familiar music had demanded action,"

12 Personification By giving the music human qualities it showed how powerful music had been towards the narrator through his struggles and it showed him a new perspective.

"I came out of it, ascending hastily from this underworld of sound."

12 Metaphor When talking about the way he listened and understood his music, the narrator compares it to an underworld of sound to convey its power and ability to entrance him.

"You're letting your imagination run away,"

330 Personification These human qualities of being able to run are often assigned to imagination in that when someone gets a crazy idea and it grows upon itself it is said their imagination is running away and this holds true when the narrator tries to convince a stranger that he is blowing things out of proportion.