The tone and mood of this parting of companions has all the softly amorphous quality of melancholy. His addition to the scene playing out before of Percival-oblivious to his feelings toward him-ends with what is close to a rhyme and not quite a rhyme, but fluid enough that it might as well rhyme.

The rhythm and cadence with which he takes in, observes and reports this moment almost reads like verse appropriate considering he is the sensitive poetic soul of the group. There is Percival in his billycock hat.” Nevilleįrom another early chapter, Neville is musing over parting with friends. Finally, while things are becoming amorphous at the beginning of the text, it close to the end where they turn definite. The line above is part of the narration while the quote here is a snatch of dialogue spoken by a character. Obviously, the first lines of these quotes are too remarkably similar to be mere coincidence the juxtaposition of things which were amorphous in one instance becoming definite pretty much seals that deal. The fluidity of language is expressed in this quote in a number of ways. “…everything became definite, external, a scene in which I had no part. This quote occurs quite early on and describes the fluidity of the effect of the sun rising upon a house: “something green” becomes as bright as emerald, increasing illumination sharpens the focus of wooden edges, closed buds open to reveal the petals of flowers, etc. From the title of the book all the way through the narrative, the fluidity of social constructs from identity to relationships to language is always of uppermost significance. The imagery which overwhelming dominates this novel-and it is important to note that elements like imagery are more important to an understanding than plot or character development-has to do, not surprisingly, with fluidity. Written by Timothy Sexton and other people who wish to remain anonymousĮverything became softly amorphous, as if the china of the plate flowed and the steel of the knife were liquid. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

The waves virginia