Language

Style of writing in lines 13-25

Your exam task asks you to comment on the style of writing in lines 13-25 in “The Sweet Business” by Mary Griese. This paragraph switches between short and long sentences, one example being:

The waterfall is your idea. Everyone needs a break. Each day sees elevenses not long after breakfast, lunch at twelve, tea at four, supper at six and at nine, gin and tonic, biscuits and cheese.

These lines express the main character’s fatigue at having her in-laws stay over for days on end. Her exhaustion might explain why she speaks (or thinks) in short sentences like the two first ones here. Also, a short sentence typically has the effect of highlighting its content. The following one is long and mentions the endless succession of daily meals which the mother-in-law forces on the family, much to the main character’s annoyance. Thus, the very length of the sentence underlines how she feels about all these meals. 

The style in lines 13-25 (and the short story as a whole) also has elements of what is called stream of consciousness. This is shown by the fact that the main character’s thoughts, feelings, an...