A revision of my Prompt 3.

 

Pattern: The pattern is one of broken passages by use of ellipse.

  • “Then…don’t come into the forest with us Try to get out of it.” (page 149)
  • “As for the others… I don’t want them free to wander around and cause trouble or get together and cause trouble.” (page 150)
  • “You…You chose him for me?” (page 164)
  • “Your tone and the way you looked when you talked with her…You relaxed more, seemed almost wistful.” (page 179)
  • “No. They’ll blame me…because Tehjaht is hurt.” (page 195)

 

Hypothesis: The use of ellipses is meant to portray the uneasiness, the lack of calm, collected thought, in the situations. The insecurity the characters feel due to the current situation.

 

Return to text: After re-reading the passages selected, I would say my hypothesis is viable. Each passage is a moment of insecurity, or one where the speaker is unsure about a current course of action. The ellipses are used to keep the sentence structure fractured, a technique that parallels the fractured train of thought. In each case, the ellipses pause thought. Something the humans must do as they assess their situation. The ellipses make the reader uneasy, mirroring the uneasiness of the humans. The thought and speech is slow, deliberate, and purposeful. So the writing reflects this, something deduced through close reading, and definitely plausible.