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Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Literary Devices

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Literary Devices and How They Affect the Reader
“Black Men and Public Space” is an essay written by Brent Staples in which he describes his struggles in the public as a black male. Throughout this work, he uses many literary devices to make the reader sympathize with his experiences. For some, they may empathize and feel themselves in his shoes.
In “Black Men and Public Space”, Staples is very descriptive and remains on subject with the issue at hand throughout the essay. Starting off with the title, he immediately addresses the conflict, black men and public space. The title is intimidating but also draws curiosity from readers. This is because race issues and social issues in general are considered taboo and make some people uncomfortable …show more content…

He introduces his emotions by using diction when he explained how he felt about the woman running away from him. He said he felt “surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once.” (Staples 1) When describing her he used alliteration. She “was a woman-white, well dressed…” (Staples 1) This makes the reader get the impression that she is proper and not from around Hyde Park, the area he was describing. When he wrote about Hyde Park, he used imagery which helps the reader imagine exactly what the scene looked like. How he said it was “[an] evening on a deserted street [at the park].” (Staples 1) When he described SoHo, he helped the readers understand the feel of the area by personifying the “tightly spaced buildings” (Staples 2), painting a picture that they shut out the sky. By placing the setting, he helps the reader place themselves at the spot, so they can truly experience and feel the event. However, that was not his only uncomfortable “encounter” with a frightened woman. Staples sets the scene, he is waiting for an interview and to pass the time, stops into a jewelry shop. The employee, without a question, goes and retrieves an attack dog. Ironically, he says that she looks frightened as her eyes were bulging out of her head. Of course that is an hyperbole. He says that they are nearly coming out to emphasize how terrified she was. He later explains he excuses himself and

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