Literary Term #8

Anecdote

• page 82: "I want to tell you a quick Curt Lemon story." Page 84:"The dentist couldn't find any problem, but Lemon kept insisting, sot he man finally shrugged and shot in the Novocain and yanked out a perfectly good tooth."

This is an anecdote that comes about because Lemon is killed. The anecdote is a way to show the kind of person Lemon was since we did not hear much about him before. Also, this anecdote is used to show the effect of embarassment on a soldier. Earlier in the story we heard about how a "soldier's greatest fear..was the fear of blushing"(page 20). This emphasizes this point made. The only reason that Lemon had his tooth removed was because he needed to undo the embarassment he had from fainting in the dentist office. He could not live with such an unimportant occurance. Yeah it is embarassisng, but things can be forgotten or just not mentioned. Instead of this, he tried to get rid of the embarassment, not caring the pain it could cause. He had his tooth pulled merely to serve as an excuse for his fainting spell. This provides support for the theme of the story concerning fear, embarassment, and a soldier. A soldier could not deal with any sort of embarssment. They were to be seen as tough and having no faults, or so they thought this. This anecdote provides the reader with how strong of an impact embarassment had on them.

Another one!

Literary Term #10

Anecdote

• page 13: "I first became aware of his lady's attitude toward him one night after the three of us had dined together....."

This is an anecdote of Jake's said to the reader. Jake is telling us how he observed Frances and Cohn's relationship. He tells when he came to the conclusion he has about it. By telling us this story, he gives us a better understanding of the two. Anecdotes are used like this in most stories. It gives insight to the readers about why characters are the way they are. The reader is able to grasp the full understanding of who a person is and how the narrator, especially in first person point of view, feels towards that person. Also, it gives us an emotional feeling towards the people in the story. You can feel sorry for Cohn or hate towards Frances. Either way, anecdotes draw us in as readers to the story. It is no longer just a book you are reading. Rather, it is a new life you have emerged in. I think that anecdotes give a book a special touch that we can start to relate to the characters in the story.