Read this passage from "notes of a native son":

when [my father] was dead i realized that i had hardly ever spoken to him. when he had been dead a long time i began to wish i had.

what rhetorical device is james baldwin most clearly using in this passage?
a. allusion
b. imagery
c. parallelism
d. metaphor

In this passage from "Notes of a Native Son".James Baldwin is most clearly using parallelism as rhetorical device is in this passage.

By definition Parallelism is two or more phrases or clauses in a sentence that have the same grammatical structure. Parallel structures give writing a strong balance.In this case, the two sentences begin with a  time clause introduced by when and a main clause. In addition, The parallel is stressed by the repetition of the word dead.