As I started reading Not So Quiet, I noticed the repetition of certain words that Helen used to either show her emotion towards something or help build a clear image of something that she is explaining or describing. I am a bit ahead as far as the reading but so far, I have marked 8 different times up to chapter 5 that she has repeated words together to help the reader understand what is happening. I felt as though when I was reading the repetition helped me feel as like I was there and gave me a clear picture of what was happening and helped me connect more with Helen. I noted that the words were often repeated in 3’s.
Just to show a few explains:
“Number Five hospital” (page 12): this was repeated to show how tiring it is to continue returning back to the hospital, almost like going in a circle, ” It ended, just as I thought it would never end” (12) This is one of the first times in the book that we get a description of how Helen’s experience as an ambulance driver went during the war. Defiantly not a smooth job!
“Snip, snip, snip” (page 14-17): this was used to give the image on Tosh cutting her hair. This repetition (3 times each time mentioned) is used throughout three pages and gives the image of Tosh cutting her hair and how long it took her to finish. Along with this, the repetition allows us to be in Helen’s mind and gives us her opinion on short hair and it is the first reference to her mother’s beliefs, “Poor Mother, she would die of horror if I came home on leave with my hair cut short like a man’s” (15).
“Limp, limp, limp”(page 57): this was used to describe Edward’s husband not having one leg. Helen expressed that she would not want to marry someone like this because if not she would be like Edwards and, “She will never be able to forget these days and nights of war and horror”(57). I felt like although it was used to give an image of Edward’s husband, it allowed the reader to think about how Helen does not want to remember the war once it is over.
This is just something I noticed as I was reading and found it interesting and helpful as I got farther in the book.
