Birth Of The Jongleur Rhetorical Devices

In the passage, The Birth of the Jongleur, Mistero Buffo’s great use of syntax effectively portrays the tone of reminiscence and aspiration through sentence length, repetition and word order. This is evident in the fifth paragraph of the passage as the narrator states, “It was like gold dust! I would stick in my hoe, and pffff… a tree sprang forth. That earth was a miracle! A marvel! (Buffo, #)”. The narrator further progresses the story by stating, “I’ve been to the lawyer, and he told me it was nobody’s. I asked the priest, and he said it was nobody’s. And I built it up, piece by piece (Buffo, #)”. Mistero Buffo uses short sentences to communicate in a powerful and concise manner. By switching from sentences that vary in length further allows Buffo to control emphasis.

This result captures the reader’s attention by further emphasizing the significance of the short sentence, as well as the tone and the author’s opinion towards the way the fundamental topic is presented.

In addition, her word choice captivates the tone by using striking and simple wording to engage her audience. Another style Mistero uses to grasp her readers interest is through repetition. Through repetition, the author distinctively reinforces and highlights details to encourage the readers to broaden their understanding to make sense of the desired tone. Word order is evident in the beginning of the passage as the narrator states, “Kind people, gather round and listen (Buffo, #)”. The beginning of the sentence starts off with a complement, which draws the reader's attention to the sentence emphasizing the unusual sentence’s message. Mistero Buffo’s use of syntax contributes to the mindset of the author’s point of view towards the fundamental topic presented, as readers are able to make sense of the author’s syntactic structure to receive the intended

tone.

In addition to Mistero Buffo’s great use of syntax in the story, The Birth of the Jongleur, effectively portrays the tone of reminiscence and aspiration through punctuation in relation to the theme. This is evident throughout the passage, one example is when the narrator states, “I was not born a jongleur; I didn’t suddenly turn up as I am now, with a sudden gust from the skies and, hopla, there I was: Good day...A miracle which was carried out on me. Do you believe me? This is how it came about! I was born a peasant (Buffo, #).” Mistero uses punctuation to draw the reader’s attention, as well as emphasize or reinforce ideas. To apprehend, colons (:) are used to introduce the explanation about the main clause and semicolons (;) are used to connect two independent clauses. The incorporation of punctuations as a result captures the reader’s attention by further emphasizing words after the semi/colon, as well as the tone and the author’s point of view towards the fundamental topic presented. Punctuation is also associated with the meaning of this story because it creates sense and stress in sentences linking back to the themes of hope and struggle. Mistero Buffo’s use of punctuation under syntax contributes to the mindset of the author’s point of view towards the fundamental topic presented, as readers are able to make sense of the author’s syntactic structure to receive the intended tone.