Langston Hughes Use Of Rhetorical Devices

1) The main point of the essay is revealed in paragraph two where it states, “The cause of my anguish is that I am the lone bastion of testosterone in a household that contains two females undergoing estrogen-related Armageddon’s of biblical proportion.” Hughes’ main point is the troubles a man faces in a family with two females. He sets up an illustration comparing his household to a “war zone where every word [he utters] is a potential grenade threatening to blow up in [his] face.” This comparison exaggerates the position the author is in through the metaphor he uses of the war zone to capture his family dynamic.
2) Hughes secondary point in the essay is the “existential question: ‘What the heck went wrong here and what do I do about it?’” The question he poses gives direction to the ending of the essay where he tells his audience that “they can’t patch up what’s wrong” despite it being in their (man’s) nature.
3) Hughes uses narrative to add to the effectiveness of his essay. Narrative is used in paragraphs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15,16, 17, 18, 19 (as indicated by lines). The role of narrative is to describe events that add to the story line. Hughes uses narrative in these paragraphs to illustrate his point in the troubles of living with

Hughes’ use of comparisons and narration are entertaining to read. He has good control in his writing and is effectively able to emphasize his point through descriptions. However, his writing seems to be mainly for a male reader as a warning for the dangers of living in a household with women and can be taken as offensive to female readers. Personally, as a female I do not find it offensive because his descriptions are accurate, but he exaggerates to emphasize his main point. Hughes does not discuss the unreliability of females because of hormonal fluctuations but he strictly describes the dangers of it instead. If he did discuss a female’s unreliability because of hormonal fluctuations it could be