Genre
Non-fiction autobiography
Setting and Context
The autobiography is set in 1932 in the Soviet Union and the United States of America.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Apprehensive, buoyant, excruciating, jolting
Protagonist and Antagonist
Whittaker Chambers is the protagonist of the story.
Major Conflict
Chambers is persecuted for his political standing and beliefs. While imprisoned, Chambers suffers and feels disenfranchised.
Climax
The climax comes when Chambers proves a case against Alger Hiss, who confessed that they had never met before. Chambers convinced the court when he withdrew filmed clip showing evidence against Alger Hiss, who was later prosecuted.
Foreshadowing
The aftermath of World War I foreshadowed World War II.
Understatement
Alger Hiss underestimated Chambers' evidence against him when he argued that they had never met before. However, Chambers was armed with a secret film that detailed all the evidence that the court needed.
Allusions
The story alludes to what spying entails.
Imagery
The author depicts smell imagery when saying that poverty can be smelled by the poor. The author writes, “The poor cam smell poverty as a doctor can smell sickness.” Consequently, the smell imagery engages readers to have more interest in reading the autobiography of Chambers.
Paradox
The fact that the USA's intelligence can leak into the hands of spies like Chambers is entirely satirical. Chambers was a Russian Spy, and he managed to get the information he needed from the USA's intelligence team. Shockingly, Chambers had links with powerful people in the U.S. government while working as a spy for the communists.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The Communists are represented as the enemies of the state.
Personification
Spying is personified as a human occupation.
