The tone of the passage is both urgent and sedate at the same time. Although the events of this passage are traumatic and very effectively portrayed as such, there is an air of the dispassionate in the way they are recounted, Clarissa is described as “unencumbered by participation, by the ropes and the shouting, and by our [their] fatal lack of co-operation” this enhances the retrospective style, we are given an array of information obviously collated only after the event e.g. the names and occupations of all the participants.
The central incident in the passage is described using biological description: “an enormous balloon filled with helium, that elemental gas formed from hydrogen” this not only illustrates that the narrator’s personality is based on reason but also acts as a dramatic device presenting a rational and objective account of the events.
The narrator shoots off in different directions (digressions): “That elemental gas formed hydrogen in the nuclear furnace of the stars, first step along the way in the generation of multiplicity” the narrator describes the major event in detached, mathematical and scientific terms this is annoying and intriguing in equal measure.
The intermittent scientific observations are habitually clear, precise and thought-out; this gives a slightly distanced, almost clinical edge to the tone. Joe’s description of events closely resembles the written record of a scientific experiment. His language is sophisticated and his concepts highly intellectual. The narrator is very concerned, almost obsessed with details and specifications: “Clarissa was passing me the bottle- a 1987 Daumas Gassac” the close analytical style of the narrative defines and establishes the narrator as a character. The narrator seems to have a certain interest in others; this seems to be from a purely general and superficial point of view and we get the impression that he is in many ways quite a private person. There is also the suggestion that he is very much immersed in his own particular field of interest and therefore not very receptive to alternative ways of seeing.
The narrative is retold from retrospective, anecdotal perspective in a very precise and meticulous way. The events, setting and characters are described with almost microscopic precision and with great attention to detail “John Logan, whose car was banked on the grass verge door, or doors wide open” this visual quality engages the reader and gives the passage a detective genre effect as though the setting are that of a crime-scene. The writer sets the scene very clearly so that it is easy for the reader to visualise: “We had watched earlier, soaring, circling and dipping in the tumult of currents.” this shows the narrative has a cinematographic quality; we are given different perspectives (camera angles) on the action, e.g. birds-eye-view, close-up etc. Literature was a visual metaphor long before film and therefore language is saturated with visual metaphor.
I felt this passage was very effective in projecting a cinematic sense of urgency. The frustrating nature of the writer freeze-framing just before the central incident in the passage absorbs and engrosses the reader and when he finally reaches the event that was previously described as the cause of “grief” “it’s enormity disguised” . . I like the way the writer has fused several genres (thriller, romance and detective) in a unique fashion.
“What idiocy, to be racing into this story and its labyrinths” figurative speech visual metaphor
“Rushing towards each other like lovers” simile
