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Situational Irony
Chapter 7: Early Days at Tuskegee
Explanation and Analysis:
As an autobiography, Up from Slavery is written from the first-person perspective. While there are moments in which Washington uses metaphor, imagery, and other types of figurative language, his writing style is primarily literal and unadorned. He is focused on capturing facts rather than feelings as he describes his chronological progress from an enslaved young person to leader of a prestigious educational institution and well-known public intellectual.
Washington's simple and direct writing style comes across in the significant moment in Chapter 7 in which Washington finds out he has been selected to run the new Tuskegee Institute. Despite the moment's significance, he spends little time on his emotions (or those of his community at the Hampton Institute) before moving onto the logistics of his move:
Several days passed before anything more was heard about the matter. Some time afterward, one Sunday evening during the chapel exercises, a messenger came in and handed the General a telegram […] In substance, these were its words: “Booker T. Washington will suit us. Send him at once.”
There was a great deal of joy expressed among the students and teachers, and I received very hearty congratulations. I began to get ready at once to go to Tuskegee.
Washington’s controlled and composed writing style intentionally mirrors his belief that Black Americans should be orderly and self-controlled. In Chapter 12 he writes about how the people he respects the most are those who “are always calm”:
After considerable experience in coming into contact with wealthy and noted men, I have observed that those who have accomplished the greatest results are those who “keep under the body”; are those who never grow excited or lose self-control, but are always calm, self-possessed, patient, and polite.
Rather than writing an inflammatory political screed, Washington is intentionally writing his autobiography in a “self-possessed, patient, and polite” style. This is related to his belief in gradual racial progress via the character development (and hard work) of the Black community.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12: Raising Money
Explanation and Analysis:
As an autobiography, Up from Slavery is written from the first-person perspective. While there are moments in which Washington uses metaphor, imagery, and other types of figurative language, his writing style is primarily literal and unadorned. He is focused on capturing facts rather than feelings as he describes his chronological progress from an enslaved young person to leader of a prestigious educational institution and well-known public intellectual.
Washington's simple and direct writing style comes across in the significant moment in Chapter 7 in which Washington finds out he has been selected to run the new Tuskegee Institute. Despite the moment's significance, he spends little time on his emotions (or those of his community at the Hampton Institute) before moving onto the logistics of his move:
Several days passed before anything more was heard about the matter. Some time afterward, one Sunday evening during the chapel exercises, a messenger came in and handed the General a telegram […] In substance, these were its words: “Booker T. Washington will suit us. Send him at once.”
There was a great deal of joy expressed among the students and teachers, and I received very hearty congratulations. I began to get ready at once to go to Tuskegee.
Washington’s controlled and composed writing style intentionally mirrors his belief that Black Americans should be orderly and self-controlled. In Chapter 12 he writes about how the people he respects the most are those who “are always calm”:
After considerable experience in coming into contact with wealthy and noted men, I have observed that those who have accomplished the greatest results are those who “keep under the body”; are those who never grow excited or lose self-control, but are always calm, self-possessed, patient, and polite.
Rather than writing an inflammatory political screed, Washington is intentionally writing his autobiography in a “self-possessed, patient, and polite” style. This is related to his belief in gradual racial progress via the character development (and hard work) of the Black community.
Related Themes:
