In “The People of the Village” by Thomas Lux, the poet intricately weaves a narrative that dwells into the depths of human conflict, exploring themes of prejudice and the diver starting repercussions of human conflict. Through the lens of two villages separated by a river, Lux crafts a poignant commentary on the destructive nature of prejudice and the urgent necessity for empathy and understanding. As the poem unfolds, Lux’s masterful use of rhetorical devices vividly conveys the characters’ perspectives and deepens the exploration of these profound themes. The impact on the reader’s understanding and interpretation is profound through an analysis of Symbolism, Imagery, Irony, allusion, repetition, parallelism and figurative language. Each rhetorical device employed by Lux contributes to shaping the narrative and enriching the thematic exploration, ultimately reinforcing the thesis that empathy and understanding are crucial in dismantling prejudice and fostering peace.
Rhetorical Devices in Conveying Characters’ Perspectives
Thomas Lux, the author, employs a variety of rhetorical devices to convey both character’s perspectives, the overarching themes of prejudice, and the necessity for empathy. Among Lux’s literary elements, symbolism and imagery are the most distinguished. The river that lies between the two villages has dramatically been used as a symbol for spatial separation, showing at the same time physical and emotional obstacles caused by prejudice. The isolation and hostility between the villagers would be clearly stipulated if the reader understood that the river acted as a barrier. This would go a long way toward making an excellent explanation for their deep-seated animosity.
Additionally, Lux utilizes irony throughout the poem to underscore the absurdity and tragedy of prejudice. Researchers used a descriptive qualitative method to analyze data on rhetorical devices and how they were applied in the inauguration of the 2021 United States president. The results found that the speaker utilized all the rhetorical devices except euphemism Umam and Laili (1)
Impacts Of Rhetorical Devices on The Reader’s Understanding
Repetition
The repetition of the words “they do this, we do that” only highlights a cyclical form of violence and revenge from either village. It brings to the fore that the conflict is perpetual and continuous, representing the fixed nature of prejudice. This injects an air of inevitability and hopelessness, contributing to realizing the futility of the conflict and the urgent need for a resolution.
Parallelism
Lux contrasts the actions of each village by using parallel lines that detail what both villages do. The parallelism of the villages brings out this assumed difference and involves the general application of prejudice and strife. It makes the readers consider the human trend to hostility and violence, although the differences may exist culturally or geographically.
Irony
However, the detailed explanations of the violent acts of the villagers, such as posting packages of rats or mocking poetry, bring out the irrationality and the pointlessness nature created due to the conflict entailing prejudice. This irony raises a reader’s question of whether there lies any truth in the anger that kept them apart, more so to consider the human cost paid for such a way of behaving. It creates a humane and compassionate attitude towards the victims of conflicts in such a way that it urges people to search for alternatives other than violence and hostility. This figurative language brings gory and graphic images such as “mail them packages of rats” or “our amputation teams were better,” which evoke strong feelings in readers.
Figurative language
This figurative language catapults the degree of the highest intensity of violence in the poem, plunging readers into the violence involved in the poem. It provokes anger and resentment over the villagers’ actions and further reinforces the urgency for seeking peaceful solutions to intergroup tensions.
Allusion
While these lines do not express this part, the poem alludes to real-world conflicts and historical events, compelling the reader to draw parallels between the villagers and some more significant social issues. Such allusions encourage the reader to seek and make contact with universal, prejudiced conflict, inviting the reader to consider his dynamics similarly in contemporary reality.
Analysis of Rhetorical Devices in the Poem
Symbolism and Imagery
Lux has used symbolism and imagery to indicate the division of the two villages. He uses the river running through the middle as a blockage of emotions and physics due to prejudices. The imagery used, mailing packages of rats and peeling larynxes, immerses readers in the brutality of the conflict. Symbolism should be seen as a representation of itself and the poet’s mind, which makes his poem significant and unique, Sa-ngiamwibool (1)
Irony
Lux employs irony all through the poem, bringing into the limelight the absurdity that homicidal violence borne out of prejudice is. It means one should lay irony upon the violent acts conjoined with domestic activities like “mocking poetry,” hence rationalizing the strife. This irony raises the question of the validity of the villagers’ hatred for each other, and it endears one to the people being victimized by the conflict. According to Asian research (1), irony is reviewed as an aesthetic category in different eras of studying irony from ambiguity.
Because it does not vividly express this, the quarrels in the poem allude to real life, and readers identify the same being portrayed within villagers and maybe broader social issues. This allusion deepens readers’ understanding of the universal nature of prejudice and evokes critical reflection about contemporary conflict.
Repetition and Parallelism
Lux uses repetition and parallelism to show the cyclic manner in which violence occurs between the two villages. The constant repetition of the words “they do this, we do that” shows the continuation of the conflict to bring out a very well-rooted sense of prejudice. The parallel lines of the actions of each village place these acts one against another, with the similarity between the two forcing the reader to reflect on the universality of such a tendency to hostility and violence. The communicative feature of the repetitive language is that it adds an aesthetic value to the text Ibragimova (1)
Language Figures of Speech
Language figures of speech like “mail them packages of rats” and “our amputation teams were better” serve to give vividness and intensity to the violent descriptions used. He uses highly emotional language that draws the reader towards the brutality of the conflict, and in doing so, he arouses even more sympathy for the victim. Despite the growing body of research documenting the analysis of poems in English First Language learning, relatively few literature examine the representation of figurative language and textual meaning Aryanika et al. (1)
Allusion
Though never stated directly, the poem does evoke an allusion towards the real-life conflicts that implicate the villagers in a way parallel to this poem. This allusion deepens the reader’s perception of the universal character of prejudice and provokes critical reflection on the present conflict. Allusions mainly reflect the emotional lyric attitudes of the poemby Lakziyan et al. (1).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Thomas Lux brings out effectively through the use of symbolism and imagery, irony, allusion, and repetition and parallelism, besides the use of figures of speech, how serious can be the outcome when prejudice is used as the fuel for fighting in “The People of the Other Village.” The river stands as a symbol of partition between the two. Allusions to real-world conflicts, no doubt, deepen one’s understanding while it is rep and parallelism that drives hard home to drive in the idea of the round and round, vicious circle of the hostile.
Works Cited
Aryanika, Septa, et al. “FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE and CONTEXTUAL MEANING: IN THOMAS HARDY POEMS.” Wiralodra English Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, Sept. 2022, https://doi.org/10.31943/wej.v6i2.186.
Asian Research, Journal. “Category of Irony in Different Eras.” Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 11, no. 11, 2021, www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ajrssh&volume=11&issue=11&article=090
Fazilat Ibragimova. “ABOUT REPETITION and ITS MANIFESTATIONS in LITERARY TEXTS.” Журнал иностранных языков и лингвистики, vol. 6, no. 2, 2023, phys-tech.jdpu.uz/index.php/fll/article/view/888. Accessed 30 Mar. 2024
Lakziyan, Hasan, et al. “ANALYZING the TYPES of ALLUSION and ITS APPLICATION in NADER NADERPOUR POEM.” PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt / Egyptology, vol. 18, no. 4, Jan. 2021, pp. 2395–410, archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/6670. It was accessed on 30 Mar. 2024.
Sa-ngiamwibool, Amporn. “Significance and the Unique Symbolism of Seasons in Selected Poems.” RES MILITARIS, vol. 12, no. 6, 2022, pp. 1296–313, resmilitaris.net/index.php/resmilitaris/article/view/2642. Accessed 30 Mar. 2024.
Umam, Ittihadul, and Elisa Nurul Laili. “A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS of RHETORICAL DEVICES in JOE BIDEN INAUGURATION SPEECH 2021.” Teaching English as Foreign Language, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 3, no. 1, June 2023, pp. 57–73, https://doi.org/10.33752/teflics.v3i1.4140
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