Passage 192 · 2017
"Lincoln in the Bardo"
Main effectThrough temporal wedding-day frame, parallel I-was-forty-six/she-was-eighteen age shock, passive I-was-smitten agency-removal, simple I-went-to-visit purposeful courtship, temporal at-Christmas seasonal marker, and existential it-was-snowing atmospheric fragment, Saunders creates syntax of predatory retrospection—grammar that uses asyndetic fragments and passive construction to present large age gap and calculated pursuit as if they were romantic facts, narrator's voice normalized through matter-of-fact declaration.
Device index
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Tropes
Understatement.
Schemes
Omission of conjunctions.
No words highlightedRepetition at beginning.
Syntax
"On our wedding day"—prepositional phrase with possessive. Syntax establishes moment.
"I was forty-six, she was eighteen"—two parallel copulas with stark numerical contrast. Syntax makes age gap explicit.
"When I saw her, the first time"—temporal subordinate with appositive. Syntax marks initial encounter.
"I was smitten"—passive participle. Syntax removes his agency, as if love happened to him.
"I went to visit"—infinitive purpose. Syntax makes courtship deliberate.
"the family"—definite article. Syntax makes her family the gatekeepers.
"at Christmas"—temporal preposition. Syntax marks seasonal context.
"It was snowing"—existential with progressive. Syntax adds atmospheric detail disconnected from action.
Close reading
1Close Reading
Temporal Frame
"On our wedding day"—prepositional phrase with possessive. Syntax establishes moment.
Age Contrast
"I was forty-six, she was eighteen"—two parallel copulas with stark numerical contrast. Syntax makes age gap explicit.
Temporal Sight
"When I saw her, the first time"—temporal subordinate with appositive. Syntax marks initial encounter.
Passive Smitten
"I was smitten"—passive participle. Syntax removes his agency, as if love happened to him.
Simple Past Visit
"I went to visit"—infinitive purpose. Syntax makes courtship deliberate.
Definite Family
"the family"—definite article. Syntax makes her family the gatekeepers.
Temporal Christmas
"at Christmas"—temporal preposition. Syntax marks seasonal context.
Environmental Fragment
"It was snowing"—existential with progressive. Syntax adds atmospheric detail disconnected from action.
Stylistic Effect
Through temporal wedding-day frame, parallel I-was-forty-six/she-was-eighteen age shock, passive I-was-smitten agency-removal, simple I-went-to-visit purposeful courtship, temporal at-Christmas seasonal marker, and existential it-was-snowing atmospheric fragment, Saunders creates syntax of predatory retrospection—grammar that uses asyndetic fragments and passive construction to present large age gap and calculated pursuit as if they were romantic facts, narrator's voice normalized through matter-of-fact declaration.