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Difficulty: HardLiterary Devices, Diction, and Style in Prose

Read the prose extract below:

"In the quiet chaos of the market square, Chief Ebuka walked with an agonizing pleasure, knowing that his long-awaited chieftaincy victory had cost him the loyalty of his only son."

Which literary device is prominently demonstrated in the expressions "quiet chaos" and "agonizing pleasure"?

  1. OxymoronAnswer
  2. B
    Paradox
  3. C
    Metaphor
  4. D
    Antithesis

Answer

The correct literary device is oxymoron.
The correct answer is oxymoron because both phrases ("quiet chaos" and "agonizing pleasure") pair two contradictory or antonymous words directly beside each other to emphasize intense emotional and situational complexity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the target expressions in the prose extract
Identified two specific phrases: "quiet chaos" and "agonizing pleasure".
Examining word relationships is essential for categorizing figurative devices.
2
Evaluate the semantic relationship between words in each phrase
"Quiet" directly contradicts "chaos", and "agonizing" directly contradicts "pleasure".
Determining if words are paired opposites establishes whether side-by-side contradiction is present.
3
Distinguish oxymoron from adjacent figures of speech
Because contradictory terms are juxtaposed directly next to each other within two-word phrases, the figure of speech is specifically an oxymoron rather than a full-sentence paradox.
Oxymoron applies to compressed, side-by-side word pairings.

Key Concept

Oxymoron in Prose Style
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Literary Devices, Diction, and Style in Prose

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