Style of writing and rhetorical devices

Style of writing

The language used in this excerpt from "Blood" by Urvashi Butalia is clear, direct, and evocative. Butalia's writing style is informative and factual, but also emotional and powerful. 

The essay is written using formal language that matches the serious and somber topic. At times, Butalia uses vivid and descriptive language to convey the horrors and atrocities that took place during the Partition of India. For example, she describes the movement of refugees in "great columns" called kafilas that "could stretch for dozens of miles." She also uses words with strong negative meanings like "slaughter", "sexual savagery", "bitterness", and "rage" to convey the brutality and trauma of the events she is describing. 

Butalia also uses vivid and shocking imagery, such as "women jumping into wells to drown themselves so as to avoid rape or forced religious conversion" and "fathers beheading their own children so that they would avoid the same dishonourable fate". This is used to evoke a strong emotional response from the reader, highlighting the brutality and tragedy of the Partition.

Butalia’s use of personal pronouns, such as "I", "my", and "us", also adds a personal dimension ...