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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Book 5, Chapter 71
Explanation and Analysis—Politics:
In Book 5, Rachel and her sisters have grown up and apart. They've taken drastically different paths, and any empathy Rachel has for the Congolese has evaporated now that she lives in the wealthy and white enclaves of Africa. When she flippantly and hyperbolically describes the Republic of Congo, there's dramatic irony in the fact that her perspective is so different from Leah's, whose explanation of the political strife in the Congo was just pages earlier. The following is Rachel's description:
I received quite an education about politics, as an embassy wife. The French Congo and the newly independent Republic of Congo are separated by one mere river and about a million miles of contemporaneous modern thinking. It’s because they tried to go and do it all for themselves over there, and don’t have the temperament.
After Leah's knowledgeable explanation of the difficulties the Congolese faced in running their own government, including the steps world powers like America took to undermine Congolese self-determination, Rachel's claims carry dramatic irony. She says she "received quite an education about politics," but the opposite turns out to be true (or at least her education is heavily biased toward the colonizers' viewpoint). She hyperbolically says there are "about a million miles of contemporaneous modern thinking" separating the French Congo (still controlled by a European country and, she thinks, superior) and the Republic of Congo. She criticizes the Congolese for self-determination and claims they've failed because of their own inherent inability and temperament. Rachel does not know or care that outside forces prevented legitimate democratic rule in Congo.
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