The Child Screams and Looks Back at You - Response

   After reading Russell Banks' The Child Screams and Looks Back at You, I am impressed by the seemingly unconventional way in which the pace of the story is executed. Namely, the length of sentences immediately stands out. You certainly have to understand the rules before you break them, and I think Banks breaks a few common rules of writing here for the benefit of his story. 

   The main themes I pulled from this story, forgiveness and trauma, are cleverly planted in the beginning of the story, and later reveal their significance as the story closes. On top of this, what I find more interesting is the way in which Banks is able to infuse his themes into his writing through unconventional prose, sentence structure, and sentence length; this story is filled with long-winded sentences that bombard the reader with anxious thoughts and hectic scenes. However, you can discern that this is intentional, because the author knows when it is most useful in their story, and when it is not. The juxtaposition of these hectic blocks of text with the slow and haunting scenes that follow create an evocative experience for the reader that may subconsciously affect the head space with which the audience reads this story. In a way, the pace of this story might elicit a response that reminds us of a trauma or unstable situation of our own. 

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