Probably the most important element in understanding voice-driven fiction. Pick a passage or a set of passages from the assignment for Monday. Analyze it using the rhetorical categories in this list - partularly: connotation (or the affect in John Self's tone); denotation (or the distance between the formal definition of a word and the way he is using it); diction (notable in "polyphonic fiction": words that come from different modes of speech); figurative language (see link); rhythm (or "foot" - the pattern of stressed and unstressed words); and imagery. Looking at a passage from (53-117) you find striking, use this language to break down John Self's voice. How does his way of speaking influence the way we respond to the events and utterances in Money?
For both posts, pick and mark a specific passage for use in class.
due Tuesday: analyze humor in Money, pages 117-180.
Humor is tricky, because it involves a tacit agreement between the writer and reader. And the reader may not consciously know that he or she is agreeing with the assumptions of the joke. That said, humor can be simpler: exaggeration, absurdity, farce, and - transgression itself can be humorous. Pick a passage or passages you find funny, and analyze it using these characteristics of humor. How many of them does Amis employ? Do the jokes have a meaning? Do they make a statement?
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