Riley Grady

Mrs. Cataldo
AP Language and Composition
3 December 2012
Quote
"I am an invisible
man"

Page #
3

Rhetorical Element
Metaphor

Alliteration

"'Yes, and I suppose

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

138

Personification

"to caress her and

destroy her, to love
her and murder her,"

19

Epistrophe

"And, alas, it's seldom

successful."

Antithesis

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

"Bear with me."

14

Hortative/Imperative
Sentence

"The end was in the

beginning"

571

Sententia

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

22

Consonance

"Silence of sound"

13

Oxymoron

"That makes me kin

to Ford, Edison, and
Franklin,"

Eponym

514

Simile

"I could see the role

which I was to play as
plainly as I saw Jack's

narrator's struggle with his

feelings because he is feeling
guilty by looking at the
woman but also lustful.
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.
This clich 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.
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.
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.
The use of Ford, Edison, and
Franklin directly connects
these men's skills of invention
and innovation to the
narrator's tinkering abilities.
As the narrator adapts to the
organization he can see why
they have him as plainly as

red hair"
"Can I give you a
hand?"

378

Synecdoche

"She was a short

yellow woman"

328

Epithet

"Isimply followed
in their shadows,"

137

Hyperbole

"He's high as a
Georgia Pine."

87

Allusion

Simile

"It was as though I

had suddenly found
myself in a dark room
filled with poisonous
cottonmouths."

21

Analogy

"He had spoken of his

meekness as a
dangerous activity."

16

Juxtaposition

one could see red hair because

it stands out with its vibrancy.
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.
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.
Exaggerating and saying the
narrator is following in their
shadows shows that he was
following very closely.
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.
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.
By putting meekness and
dangerous together it shows
the absurdness of what the
narrator's grandfather is

"Our life is a war"

16

Metaphor

"The old man's words

were like a curse."

17

Simile

"I am nobody but

myself."

15

Sententia

"He bumped me, he

insulted me."

14

Symploce

"I'd like to hear five

recordings of Luis
Armstrong playing
and singing "What
Did I Do to Be so
Black and Blue""

Allusion

"This familiar music

had demanded
action,"

12

Personification

saying thus explaining his

confusion with his last words.
This represents that African
Americans had harder lives,
almost as if they were at war.
It establishes setting.
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.
The use of a clich 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.
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.
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.
By giving the music human
qualities it showed how
powerful music had been
towards the narrator through

"I came out of it,

ascending hastily
from this underworld
of sound."

12

Metaphor

"You're letting your

imagination run
away,"

330

Personification

his struggles and it showed

him a new perspective.
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.
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.