The Known World Edward P Jones Analysis

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Moses is characterized as a hard-working man who is very kind and intimate with nature. He is the last worker out in the fields on many days and he is extremely comfortable outside in nature. In Edward P. Jones’ excerpt from The Known World, the character of Moses is developed through the imagery that is used, the third person point of view, and the details that Jones chooses to use. Jones uses imagery to develop the character of Moses by allowing the reader to picture how hard he works. By the time Moses finally stopped working, “all that was left of the sun was a five-inch-long memory of red orange” (line 11-12) because Moses had worked until almost sundown. This classifies Moses as a hard-working man because he let all of the other workers go, but he stayed until he almost could not see anymore. The imagery in the passage also characterizes Moses person with a strong connection to nature. Moses “was the only man… who ate dirt” (line 23-24) and he could tell what month and the status of the crops by tasting the soil. The reader is able to tell that …show more content…

When “the mule quivered, wanting home and rest” (line 17), but Moses was still okay, the reader is more able to believe that this is possible, that Moses is stronger than a mule. If Moses had been telling the story in the first person, the reader would be inclined to question the degree to which Moses was able to outperform a mule because he could possibly be exaggerating to glorify himself. This potential problem is solved with a third person narrator because the narrator no longer has a reason to be partial either with or against Moses. The reader is able to trust this narrator more because of this point of view helps to develop Moses’ character because what is said is taken to be true and the narrator is able to give the reader a full picture of what is going on with

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