Question

Read this sentence from the excerpt from Twelve Years a Slave:

Whether they were accessory to my misfortunes—subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men—designedly luring me away from home and family, and liberty, for the sake of gold—those who read these pages will have the same means of determining as myself.

What is the figurative meaning of the words and phrases in the sentence? How does the imagery and symbolism in the sentence affect its meaning? Use evidence from the text to support your response. Your response should be one or two complete paragraphs.

Answer 1

I always like to think of figurative meaning as deeper meaning: what is the narrator really trying to get the reader to understand? Once you have your answer, think about the key words in that excerpt that helped you uncover the figurative meaning-- these will always be figurative devices, so you're already half way through this question. (pro tip: stick to the text to uncover it-- don't stray to far from the information you are being provided)

Lastly, you're being asked to identify literary devices here, do you notice any symbols? Something that usually stands for something else that might relate to that deeper/figurative meaning? Also, think about how the way in which the author phrased these symbols impacted the overall deeper meaning.

Answer 2

To represent his conceptualization of his captors to his readers and to explain enough reasons to be understood.

Step-by-step explanation:

Whether they were accessory to my misfortunes— subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men—: Means in the first place that it doesn’t matter if the individuals that made him experience so many misfortunate events were necessary to perform them or not he still did it. In second place that their much-elaborated bad acts made them lose their human condition and thanks to it, he perceived them as monsters. Also that the only human thing they had was their image.

designedly luring me away from home and family, and liberty, for the sake of gold—those who read these pages will have the same means of determining as myself.

First of all, this sentence describes that the cause of his kidnapping and slavery was wealth. Also, in second place that thanks to all his descriptions and opinions every reader will conceptualize his captors and abusers as he portrays them.