Literary Device

sbryan · Jun 9, 2007

I'm writing about the intercalary chapters of The Grapes of Wrath. These vignettes are told from the third person, even though some characters start to address the reader as "you", but later the party being addressed responds.

What is this literary technique:

You can't kick us off the land. Our land.

Got to. The monster is sick. Something is wrong with the monster.

I'm not taking those lines directly from the book, but the style is the same. It's a technique in which the dialogue is not set apart with quotation marks.

Not sure if this is the right place, but I guess it's a good place to start.

LaceWing · Jun 10, 2007

The literary discussion forum might be the place to get an answer:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=136

UKREVIEWER · Jun 22, 2007

Adressing the reader as "you" etc

sbryan said:
These vignettes are told from the third person, even though some characters start to address the reader as "you", but later the party being addressed responds.

I like the sound of this, I'm going to pop over and take a look myself. Did you ever find out the answers that you specifically needed?

alleycat · Jun 22, 2007

It might fall under the category of "literary motif". I'm not exactly sure.

maestrowork · Jun 22, 2007

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean thoughts as in:

Jack despised Pete and wanted to tell him off. You are such a jerk. Go Away.

Or do you mean author's intrusion:

Jack despised Pete and wanted to tell him off. You know, every once in a while you've got to let off some steam.

Literary Device

sbryan

LaceWing

UKREVIEWER

alleycat

Still around

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray