The Big Sea by Langston Hughes
In line 7, ("continually knocking his hands, head and heart") what rhetorical device is used?
Alliteration
What the primary imagery of the passage?
Confinement
What is the meaning of word "gainsay" as used in context of line 55?
Gainsay means to deny.
In lines 43-44 ("on through my walks in the Harvard yard and my lectures in Germany") what is the function of the author's following statement?
It functions to demonstrate how the author cannot distance himself from segregation. By cataloging events from his own life he emphasizes the effects of racism.
What does the series of phrases in lines 12-14 suggest?
It suggests the means by which the strict class structure was maintained.
What rhetorical device is the author using by listing question words from lines 32-26?
The author is establishing syntactical pattern.
"I was by long education and continual compulsion..." (Line 24) What does the author mean by the phrase "long education"?
The author is referring to his experience.
The author's repetition of the phrase "I could not" is an example of what?
The author's repetition of the negative phrase is an example of antithesis.
What is the rhetorical function of the first sentence of the passage?
The first line serves to provide an allusion to society in the 1500s.
In the context of line 27, what does the phrase "sleepless vigilance suggest?
The phrase suggests the determined enforcement of a system.
What is the purpose of the author's example in the last paragraph of a woman assuming the black man was a servant?
The purpose is to show segregation's implications on society and condemn these implications. He uses an incident then decries the effects of this incident.
What is the primary purpose of the passage?
The purpose of the passage is to convey the psychological impact of the system of segregation.
What is the tone of the passage?
The tone is civil but angry.
The phrases "sleepless bounds" and "bounds" and "white environing world" serve to what?
These phrases serve to demonstrate that the author still feels constricted from the lasting effects of slavery.
What does the repetition of the phrase impossible in the last paragraph severs to accomplish?
This repetition serves to highlight the strong feeling that the subject engenders.
What is the rhetorical function of the first sentence of the second paragraph in the passage?
This sentence is used as a transition from his discussion of the strict classist society of the 1500s to his own experience as a black man in the 20th century.
