critical commentary III Henry Page
This short story, entitled ‘Ampersand’, is an exploration of the narrative psyche related to the reader in the form of a stream-of- consciousness. I have attempted to reflect this in the title, whose shape conveys the fluid, often sinuous style of the prose, whilst meaning very little, which adds to the air of ambiguity that surrounds the piece, reflective of the sensory effect that the text has on the reader.This was inspired by Greene’s story ‘The End of the Party’ whose use of vague yet ominous imagery throughout, for example the ‘great bird swooping’, provides an interface between the reader and the characters’ emotions. Similarly, in ‘Ampersand’, I mirror the narrative persona’s sensations through vivid imagery such as ‘bland defeat’, whilst the sustained use of this adds to the often-aggressive nature of the text, creating a sensory assault on the reader. Throughout ‘Ampersand’, the most visible and important tech- nique is the stream-of-consciousness, which is intended to mir- ror the narrative psyche providing a string of interesting and disorientating images and senses merged together seamlessly. For example, the ‘stains falling from chimneys’, gives the impression that the events are currently unfolding, lending an immediacy to the work and allowing a rhythm to build throughout that often reflects the narrative and abandons the rigid five-part story structure in favour of a more dynamic and expressive form. My inspiration for this technique was ‘The SecondBakeryAttack’, where Murakami’s employment of stream-of-consciousness provides the reader with a greater connection to the narrator and events of the narrative, for example, the narrator states that ‘ we never choose anything at all. Things happen. Or not.’ We can sense the presence of the narrative persona through his style
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