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

implemented in order to describe the initial setting creates and develops emphasis from the reader’s first impression.

In the foremost moments of the story, the author uses emotional insinuations to construct bridges between the reader and the story.

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

character.

Through the visionary tactic of character development, the novelist fosters a buoyant amount of credibility and authenticity within the plot. By introducing and mounting the bonds forged between Samantha, Cassie, and Jacob because of their parent’s deaths, Turner Hospital builds the authority of these characters, plus Lowell, who was also a child of parents killed in the hijacking. By placing these children and forcing them through the act of terrorism, trustworthiness presents itself in the form of testimonials and first-hand experiences. Following the Air France Flight 64 travesty, the matured children experience overwhelming trauma due to the devastation that took place in the early years of their lives. Operation Black Death played a definitive role in haunting and traumatizing the surviving children throughout the duration of the novel.

Based on the time period of the book’s release, Turner Hospital established her authority and believability by writing about a fictitious hijacking involving political factors around the same time as the terrorist attack on New York City’s World Trade Center. The parallels between the two incidents share similarities, primarily revolving around the collateral damage suffered on the national level of concern. However, the author diverges her story from ongoing political matters by causing the terrorism to lead the government into an engagement with the enemy. Throughout the time spent in captivity of their captors, the hostages face an onset of statements about their government’s decision to ignore their confinement, while hiding the truth from public news services. Because of this, the story adds a bit of curiosity and sedition when comparisons rival against conspiracy theories of the September 11th attack on America.

In order to persuade her audience, Turner Hospital applied the rhetoric of logos by introducing a logical progression throughout the story in the form of character logic and reason. At the beginning of the novel, the reader claims to very little background information to the plot. However, as the storyline progresses, they learn of the shock associated behind the hostage situation. Like the attacks on the World Trade Center, safety preparations failed the victims in the end. So, it seems fitting for the author to end the novel by writing, “What possible preparations can be made?” The beginning of the novel focuses on how an attack like the one described can occur, but the end shifts its attention to preparing for what might happen tomorrow.

The logical progression within the novel aids the author in controlling the mind of the reader, while allowing it to flow freely along with the plot.

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

plot.

Essentially, linguistics excel best when the author utilizes multiple tools of rhetorical analysis at once. In Due Preparations for the Plague, Turner Hospital differentiates her writing by integrating ethos, pathos, and logos together in different scenarios. For example, in the chapter three of the sixth book, the tapes Lowell and Samantha decide to watch include footage from CBS news of the hijacked Air France flight. By using a credible, renowned news source, the author establishes the credibility of the tapes for both the characters and the reader. Likewise, the content of the news report presents a graphic, disconcerting footage of a plane explosion and the introduction of ten remaining hostages held in Iraqi captivity. This message conjures the emotions of Lowell and Sam, as well as the reader, which serves as an example of ethos.

Likewise, Turner Hospital later utilizes the rhetoric tools of logos and pathos to announce the deaths of the remaining hostages. In their final moments, each captive faces the decision of dying due to gas exposure over time, or speeding up their death by removing their mask. Each victim choosing to accept their death spends their final moments talking into a camera to share their last words with their “viewers”. By allowing the characters to give a final speech, the author introduces an overly emotional setting mixed with a logical analysis of their final thoughts. The testimonies ranged from telling stories to clearing consciences, but each involved an intentional amount of logical progression eventually crippled by emotion.