Formal diction
Douglass's use of the words "severe trial" and "departure", as well as his sentence structure shows a more formal diction. He is basically saying nothing stopped him from leaving. However, he uses much more formal diction. Imagery is the creation of images in the reader's mind through description. There are no images in the reader's mind from this excerpt. There are also no elements of sentiment in the passage or subjectivity.
The correct answer is imagery.
Figurative language is a simile or metaphor -- neither is used here. An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, or thing; an allusion is not used here. Parallelism is using similar grammatical structures and does not appear here.
Imagery is a description that appeals to any of the five senses, but especially the visual sense. In this passage, Baldwin is clearly describing the slap (which we can see and hear in our mind) of the child, the pain which reverberates through heaven -- we can visualize this pain reaching out into heaven and embedding itself in the universe.
Due to the visual power of these words, the correct answer is C.
This question is missing the options. I've found the complete question online. It is the following:
Which is the best paraphrase of the passage?
It's always cloudy where the Men of Winter live.
It's always misty where the Men of Winter live.
It's always dark where the Men of Winter live.
It's always sunny where the Men of Winter live.
Answer:
The best paraphrase of the passage is:
C. It's always dark where the Men of Winter live.
Explanation:
This question can be quite tricky, and here is why: the words "mist" and "cloud" are explicitly written in the passage. Of course, our first impulse is to imagine a cloudy or misty place and to choose either option A or option B, or even both. However,<u> we need to keep on reading to fully understand the passage. Notice the speaker says, "Never the flaming eye of Helios lights on those men..." Helios is nothing more than the personification of the sun in Greek mythology. When he says its flaming eye never lights, he basically means his light never shines on those Men of Winter. No light means it is dark. It may be dark due to the excessive mist and clouds, but it is dark nonetheless because the light can't shine through. That is why letter C seems to be the best option.</u>
