Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Written in the context of slavery
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is Clora.
Tone and Mood
Horrifying, sad, terrifying, pessimistic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Clora is the central character in the story.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that Clora and other black women slaves are raped by their masters, and their children are sold as slaves to neighboring plantations.
Climax
The climax is when Clora kills herself to be free of slavery and save her children from being enslaved.
Foreshadowing
The suicide of Fammy was foreshadowed by the mistreatment she received from her master. Eventually, she killed herself and the master.
Understatement
Slavery is understated. The reader realizes that women suffered the most at the hands of the slave masters. For instance, women were raped, and their children were mercilessly sold as slaves to neighboring plantations.
Allusions
The story is an allusion to the negative effects of slavery and how black women suffered at the hands of their masters.
Imagery
The images of slavery, rape, and mistreatment of black women in the hands of their masters are rampant throughout the book. The imagery shows readers the slaves' sufferings before slavery was abolished.
Paradox
The main paradox is that masters are sexually attracted to their black women slaves, yet they consider such women useless and inferior. The irony is that the masters can comfortably have sex and impregnate their women slaves, yet they treat them inhumanly.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Slavery is personified as futile
