‘How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy’ by Alice Walker represents the life of the viewpoint character. She allows herself to become grounded within an elaborate affair pervaded by sexual objectification as a result of aspects of her life, such as her relationship with her mother, as well as her race. The author uses literary elements such as alliteration, imagery, and juxtaposition to exhibit these events that are going on in the characters' life.
Alice Walker uses alliteration throughout the story by including many flashbacks of what had happened to the girl when she was younger, such as getting raped when she was only the age of twelve, and recalling that her mother always brought men home. The author also uses alliteration when describing the grass as 'springy and silky'. Alliteration was also used when the author described how Bubba's daddy was 'ranting and raving' on TV. Alliteration was used in this story to focus the reader to pay attention to a particular section of the text. The sounds when reading ‘springy and silky’ can create rhythm and mood, as well as have particular connotations.
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Imagery was used when the author said that the air in the girl's house 'blighted' the flower. This resembles imagery because the sentence shows the audience how the flower died. The author also used foreshadowing when she used this line: “I was fourteen, but I guess I looked like a grown woman. Or maybe I looked fourteen. Anyway, the next day, he picked me up when I was coming from school and he said my Mama had asked him to do it. I got in the car with him... he took me to his law office”. That sentence hinted that the man was going to do something bad to the girl. The author uses imagery throughout the story to give vivid and also descriptive language to add depth to her work. Foreshadowing was also used to add dramatic tension to the story by building anticipation about what may happen next.
Juxtaposition was used when the author said: “So on the day he was buried I was in his house, sitting on his wife's bed with his children, and eating fried chicken his wife, Julie, had cooked”. This sentence contrasts the difference between the man being dead and the girl being alive. The author uses juxtaposition in her writing to directly represent a character in detail, which creates suspense. Anaphora was also used when the author repeated the phrase “didn't I know” to emphasize that the girl should know better than what she was doing with the man. The author also uses similes in her writing to help convey the narrator’s perspective on the events, herself, and other characters. The grass in front of the Capitol building is described as being “like a rug”, a simile which suggests that as a child the narrator was impressed with the softness of the grass.
The uses of alliteration, imagery, and juxtaposition in the story were very complex and made the story very memorable. The author used certain literary elements to provide the readers with more information so that they can make connections with the story. For instance, the use of foreshadowing to predict what events may take place in the story later. The ending of the story was foreshadowed numerous times through its analogies, it felt almost like a cliffhanger, but when looking back, it all added up. Overall, because of the constant use of alliteration, imagery, similes, foreshadowing, and juxtaposition, Alice executed the literary elements perfectly.
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