1. Why do you think Fern switches back and forth from past tense to present tense? She does this on page 161 ("Ruth sleeps") and on page 164 (the paragraph describing the doctor's sitting room).
2. This may be a silly question, but what do you think that "whirring" noise is in Ruth's apartment building??
These are both good questions. The machine thing is explained (a bit) later.
ReplyDeleteThe present tense thing always stands out to me, too! Stowe does it in UTC sometimes, as well. I think it creates a sense of immediacy, bringing the reader even closer to the moment. Does that make sense?