Literary Term #5

Rhetorical Questions

• page 38: "Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression? Who started it and why? What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin? Was Ho Chi Minh a communist stooge, or a nationalist savior, or both, or neither? What about the Geneva Accords? What about SEATO and the Cold War? What about dominoes?"

These are a list of rhetorical questions going through O'Brien's mind when thinking about the war. It is obvious they are rhetorical because he is not looking for someone else to answer them. The purpose of these in the story is to show how every character must have had these type of questions running through their mind. Also, it may be used to show how everyone during this time did not truly understand the war. Even after the war, I am not sure if the soldiers do. So if soldiers there still have questions, think about the public who is pretty much out of the loop. This could also be an example of STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. We are seeing what is going on in the mind of O'Brien. This allows for the reader to become a lot more connected to the story and the main character. This engages a reader by making them feel like they are a part of the story.

Lit terms cont.

Literary Term #3

Stream of Consciousness

• page 178: "It was really only two, but I did not want to explain after I had made the mistake."
• page 178:" 'Yes,' I lied. I had read the accounts of his two appearances in the bull-fight papers, so I was right."

This lit term means that the author writes where the inner workings of the character's mind are revealed. In this case, Jake's thoughts concerning his action of what he says to Pedro Romero. Throughout the book, Jake adds commentary to the story. He adds reasonings to actions, such as theses two instances. In addition, these thoughts can be somewhat complex depending on what is occuring. At the beginning of the story (page 19), Jake reveals why he decides to take Robert to the bar. His thinking is rather complex here, but it does effectively explain why he does what he does. This happens in the entire book with Jake since he is the character who is telling the story.