Language

Style of language in lines 90-98

In lines 90-98 of “I Don’t Dream of Genie” by Chad Pelley, Sherry recounts her failed attempt to control her dreaming and her resulting frustration. The excerpt uses informal speech, which realistically conveys natural speech patterns, giving the impression that the narrator is having a dialogue with someone.

The change in intonation and stress of some words is conveyed through italics:

Another way to tell your sleep self it’s dreaming, I learned, is to almost wake up, mid-dream (…) Sure, I could rig a big bowl to tip over in my kitchen, at three in the morning, to half wake me (…). (ll. 94-96)

The use of italics might suggest that the narrator is annoyed or even angry, or might simply indicate her sarcastic attitude to the issue she describes. The same impression is conveyed by the swear word “fuck” (l. 95), which points to Sherry’s frustration at the improbability of almost waking up, mid-dream, and then falling back into the dream immediately (ll. 94-95), and “bullshit” (l. 98), which refers to the entire technique of lucid dreaming.

The informal style also comes across in the use of incomplete sentences su...