of communication, allowing a more effective bond to develop between the persona and the reader. A structural technique that I employ is starting the story in medias res: a device that allows me to work around the inherent limitations of the short story format whilst giving the impression that this text is an excerpt from an endless piece. The technique was inspired by ‘The Kangaroo Communiqué’ which begins ‘Say hey’, launching the reader into the middle of the story,which adds to the theme of alienation sustained throughout. In ‘Ampersand’ I have likewise attempted to alienate the reader, starting ‘and barcelona’, setting the pace maintained for the following prose, and together with the menacingly dense aesthetic of the text, builds upon the theme of claustrophobia, as it seems there is no escape from the piece much as the narrator has no escape from his consciousness. I also make use of bathos in finishing the piece on the unsatisfactory ‘and’, which leaves the reader feeling dissatisfied, whilst semi-metafictively drawing attention to the piece as a fictional story; the harsh ejection from the narration reminds the viewer that the piece is a fictional construct.This links to a theme of dissatisfaction developed throughout the piece, for example ‘the warmth of mediocrity’ and ‘the bland defeat’. The bathetic ending also adds to the idea of this piece being an excerpt,making the starting and final uses of ‘and’ appear deliberate as opposed to unfinished.The concept of bathos evolved following my reading of ‘The Second Bakery Attack’ where the narrative ends ‘waiting for the rising tide to carry me where I belonged’. As opposed to a resolution of the narration, this unexpected and dissatisfying ending mirrors the narrator’s hunger, whilst subverting the typical story structure, much as I have done. The stream-of-consciousness style lent itself to the use of surreal imagery, yet without appearing contrived, as a traditional narrative may have done. Many of the noun–adjective parings,
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