What Are The Literary Techniques Used By Janette Turner Hospital

Through the conventional use of pathos, ethos, and logos, Janette Turner Hospital conveys the psychological and political implications of a modern terrorist attack, which ultimately results in loss and despair.

By structuring the novel into eight brief, separate books, Turner Hospital lures the reader with the idea of allowing the book to turn its own pages. In a sense, the emotions of the reader are to be virtually enthralled to the point of exhaustion by the end of the story. This particular strategy of writing involves the usage of pathos to control the emotions of the reader, while allowing the mind to flow freely. For example, the beginning of the novel begins with five italic words describing a setting. To the naked eye, the use of italics

With intent to evoke interest, the plot introduces the main character, Lowell, listening to a National Public Radio voice describe the horrific events of a terrorist attack. Turner Hospital establishes an emotional connection by adding details of Lowell’s father being a victim of the hijacking. She wrote, “What Lowell can hear is his own father in shadow duet, word for word and line for line…Forty thousand feet, he hears, severed fuselage…the fatal plunge…death.” The structure of introducing a main character and his father’s immediate death in the first paragraph of the novel portrays a rather thrilling sense of emotion. Because the plot lacked development at this point, little to no emotional connection between these characters exist. However, by the end of the narrative, Turner Hospital maintains her reader’s responsiveness to the effects and outcomes of each

In a sense, Turner Hospital attempts to lead the reader down various paths of logic and reason to keep the thrilling mystery of the story alive. However, she refrains from warping the mind to follow a single pathway of logical analysis. Surely, the reader freely chooses and determines their feelings towards characters, situations, and outcomes. Yet, if the author failed to grasp some of the control over the reader’s thought progression, quick assumptions and overt fabrications of the truth would distort the narrative and confuse her audience. Although, a creative tactic in thriller novel prose allows the writer to lead the reader down stray paths in an attempt to conceal the truth until it becomes revealed later in the