Biblical Allusion
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My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.
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The laws were so absolute, so clearly set down, that I knew if a person truly wanted to avoid hell and brimstone, and being roasted forever in the devil's fire, all she had to do was memorize Deuteronomy and follow its teaching, word for word.
Literary Allusion
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Momma and other ladies caught him in time to bring him back to the bench, where he quickly folded upon himself like a Br'er Rabbit rag doll.
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My pity for Mrs. Cullinan preceded me the next morning like the Cheshire cat's smile.
Aphorism
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"Thou shall not be dirty" and "Thou shall not be impudent" were the two commandments of Grandmother Henderson upon which hung our total salvation.
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Can't do is like Don't Care.
Parallel Construction
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We danced the jitterbug to Count Basie, the Lindy and the Big Apple to Cab Calloway, and the Half Time Texas Hop to Duke Ellington.
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A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base, then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their mouths.
Dialect
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Naw, Helen, you ain't standing like her. This here's it.
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Bah Jesus, I live for my wife, my children and my dog.
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Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse.
