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Analysis of Literary Language, "Mnemonic" by Li-Young Lee, "…
Analysis of Literary Language
Literary Components
References
To...
Other Literature (Intertextuality)
Uses horror myths from an Alvin Schwartz’s children's book in order to allude to the protagonist's feelings
"The Husband Stitch" by Carmen Maria Machado
Music
Includes lyrics of "White Christmas" in order to juxtapose the horror of the evacuation
"Aubade with Burning City" by Ocean Vuong
Games
The game of hopscotch is used to set the rhythm of the piece
"Harlem Hopscotch" by Maya Angelou
Figurative Language
Metaphor
"Master's Tools" = the slaves' tools; "Master's House" = plantation. You cannot use the tools that built the house in order to destroy it. These "tools" and "house" have not gone away because they're being replicated in institutions, today
"The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" by Audre Lorde
Critiquing...
Imagery
Depicts sweetgrass
"Preface" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Simile
Pg. 13 - "Nuts are
like the pan fish of the forest"
"The Council of Pecans" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Pg. 245 - "legs like parentheses"
"Recitatif" by Toni Morrison
Repetition
Lines 3 & 18 - "nothing really happened" convey denial of the detailed "incident"
"Incident" by Natasha Trethewey
Symbolism
"Coco-Cola" represents blood, in order to communicate that American involvement has caused all this death
Message
What
is it?
Theme
Racism
Talks about/questions... Model Minority Myth
"United" by Cathy Park Hong
"On Being a
Refugee, an American—and a Human Being" by Viet Thanh Nguyen
It is not wrong for women of color to be angry, especially if they are constructive with their righteous anger
"The Uses of Anger" by Audre Lorde
Does not tell the reader who is black and who is white, in order to make you question your own stereotypes on race
Family
"Magical Dinners" by Chang-rae Lee
About older generation learning to accept the pros of the American lifestyle
"The First Real San Giving Day" by Richard Blanco
"A Map of Lost Things: On Family, Grief, and the Meaning of Home" by Jamila Osman
Religion
Alternative creation story
"Skywoman Falling" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Express doubts about God
"Yet Do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen
Culture
Questions why we put more emphasis on the supposed differences in our racial/cultural identities, rather than the more numerous similarities
"When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine" by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Role of a Writer
Writers play "God." They create worlds with their voice
"testament" by Lucille Clifton
Feminism
Loss
How
is it
said
?
Tone
Cynical
"a litany for survival" by Audre Lorde
To
Who
?
Audience
Speaking
to
&
for
marginalized people
For a white audience
Form
Verse
Narrative Flow
Conflict
Daughter vs. Mother
"La Prieta" by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
The Poet X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Being a novel that is written in verse, it takes full use of its poetry format with the way it spaces its verses. For example, on page 212, Xiomara is asking several questions. The spacing gives the reader a sense that she is waiting for someone to answer, but there is no one who can (at least one that is satisfactory; something that is common throughout the novel).
Dialogue
Direct Quoting
The piece includes quotes from other women writers of color in order to support the argument that we need to encourage and look for these diverse voices
"Speaking In Tongues" by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
VS.
Rhyme Scheme
Sonnet
Written in...
Shakespearean (English)
"Sonnet" by James Weldon Johnson
"If We Must Die" by Claude McKay
Petrarchan (Italian)
No Rhyme Scheme
Blank Verse
Free Verse
Written in...
Spacing
Meter
iambic
"Another jump, now to the left."
pentameter
rhyming couplet
"Both feet flat, the game is done. / They think I lost. I think I won."
Prose
Narrator
Stream of Consciousness
"Mnemonic" by Li-Young Lee
Has a...
"On Virtue" by Phillis Wheatley
"The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith" by Gwendolyn Brooks
Written in...
"Black-Eyed Women" by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Expression of...
Text Color Key
Blue
= Poems
Purple
= Non-Fiction
Pink
= Fiction