Mississippi Trial, 1955 Literary Elements

Mississippi Trial, 1955 Literary Elements

Genre

Young adult

Setting and Context

Mississippi, in 1955

Narrator and Point of View

Hiram Hillburn narrates the story in the first-person.

Tone and Mood

The tone is sad; the mood is depressing.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Hiram is the protagonist; racism is the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel occurs when Emmett Till is tragically abducted and then murdered shortly afterwards.

Climax

The climax of the story is reached when Till's trial begins and the murderers are seen from Hiram's perspective.

Foreshadowing

The murder of Emmett is foreshadowed by the fact that he is black.

Understatement

The role that racism plays is understated throughout the novel.

Allusions

The story alludes to the violence against African-Americans at the time.

Imagery

The imagery of Till's brutal murder is present in the novel.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

There is a parallel between the treatment of Till and the experience of countless African-Americans at the time.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The rope is a metonym for the death of Emmett Till.

Personification

N/A

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