Response #3

After writing a brilliant response, my computer crashed so let's try this again and see if it's better or worse the second time around.

Again, choosing a "significant" point to pause and write about proved to be difficult. I chose the Janice chapter because it stood out for me.

Janice is not only left to deal with giving birth, but during this she is thrown a lot of challenging situations to deal with on top of it. Her husband is out of town (and having a lot of trouble making it back home), she is having a very slow and painful labour and to top it all off she is at high risk of fetal mortality and then has a caesarian section without the proper anesthetic.

I think that this chapter caught my eye because it breaks with the rest of the book in the way it is approached. The style seems to read as more of a soap opera than the rest of the stories do. The characters seem almost two dimensional and less personal whereas in the other chapters we see further into the lives of all characters - primary, secondary and sometimes even tertiary. In this instance we see the characters like so:

• Janice is very intricately described as she is the narrator.
• Dr. Ming (who we now know is an obstetrician) seems sweeter than normal. She candy-coats the situation and doesn't give straight answers. However, she acts with the same sort of initiative as she always has in previous chapters.
• Janice's husband seems distant and uncaring. He is never explained in depth but what we do learn of him makes the reader want to slap him.
• The nurses are merely there. They do their job with little to no conversation whereas in the other chapters nurses are always described and/or conversed with.

Also, the way that this chapter is written is mostly internal and almost completely narrated by Janice's thoughts more than her actions. It flips between her reality and her dreams (focusing on beach scenes and relaxtion) which gives contrast between her sleeping peace and waking turmoil.