In the excerpt of The Known World by Edward P. Jones, we are introduced to Moses, a slave who has a deep connection with nature and is taken to his own world when in its grasp. The author reveals to us the character of Moses through point of view, selection of detail, and imagery. By Jones's descriptions and indirect characterization, we have a much clearer picture of who Moses is than if he had just listed his qualities.
Edward P. Jones characterizes Moses in the third person, and discusses his actions over only a singular evening. He gives us the perspective over only one night, but still makes the audience feel as if we know him closely. He does this by incorporating the line, "His wife knew enough now not to wait for him to come and eat with them." This quote conveys to the audience that this is a regular occurrence for Moses, so regular that she doesn't even bother trying to wait. But, Jones doesn't stop there. At the end of the passage he carries the point of view into the future and writes, "...he would look back and blame the chains on evenings like these, and on nights when he lost himself completely..." which exemplifies how in the future, we know he will regret his nights under the twinkling stars and the pattering rain. Through Jones's point of view and perspectives we get to know Moses personally, despite only zooming in on one night of his entire life.
The author also incorporates great selection of detail when describing Moses's night outside. He states, "Moses closed his eyes and bent down and took a pinch of soil and ate it with no more thought than if it were a spot of cornbread," and, "Well into the forests the rain came in torrents and through the trees and the mighty summer leaves, and after a bit Moses stopped and held out his hands and collected water that he washed over his face." Because of these details Edward P. Jones chose to include, we learn that Moses isn't afraid to get up close and personal with nature and its elements. He walks in the pouring rain; he eats the dirt. He isn't scared. Jones could have easily left out the small details of how he at this dirt with no thought- and was the only one in the realm who did so- or discarded how he continued through the woods persevering through the pouring rain. He kept these details because they are vital in helping the audience understand who Moses is.
Imagery is also extremely noted throughout Jones's excerpt. He describes Moses's surroundings bit by bit until you feel as if you are actually there. One thing that really stood out to me was, "all that was left was the five-inch long memory of red orange..." which is referring to the sun. This strongly illustrates the way Moses perceives nature, and through all of Jones's description we see who Moses is.
Storyboards:
Tone Shifts Chart:
Blog Post 2: Reflection-
I feel that I improved a lot from Essay draft 1 of Edward P. Jones's novel to my second draft. In my first draft, I didn't dive into the prompt. I analyzed what figurative language and rhetorical devices that were in the text but did not do a good job of explaining how that displayed Moses's character. I didn't go deep into who Moses was and strayed away from the most important question of the prompt of how Moses feels about nature and how this bondage with her sets him free. I also did not stray from the 5 paragraph essay which made my essay uninteresting and predictable. In my new essay, our group made a 10 paragraph essay in total, which made our essay much more in depth than a five paragraph essay. Furthermore, we went in detail of each tone/focus shift and analyzed how with each of these we learn a little bit more about Moses. In my first essay, I missed this flow of character development, but in the new essay, I feel we pinpointed Moses's character precisely.
