Sample paragraph:
In the middle section of the extract, Silverberg goes into greater detail about Kinall Darival’s
feelings about his potential ‘autobiography’. The epizeuxis of “obscene, obscene”, combined with
Silverberg’s use of exclamation marks creates emphasis, continuing to highlight the shocking
nature of the task that Darival is undertaking. This effect is further compounded by the tricolon
of personal pronouns “my, me, myself”, which continues the focus on the individual over society
(a common feature of other Dystopian fiction such as “We” and “1984”). Silverberg continues by
describing a “torrent of shamelessness”, with the noun “torrent” suggesting violence and
uncontrolled destruction, while ‘shamelessness’ amplifies the fact that Darival is willing to take
on this task, seemingly no matter the cost. Silverberg also makes lexical choices that link to
sexual behaviours and desires, such as “vice”, “naked” and “titillating”, as well as describing the
fact that “if [he] exposed his manhood in the Stone chapel” it would not be more shocking. This
link to the sexual and uncontrolled nature of individual identity might also remind a reader of
the events with which Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ cumulates, where it is partially John
the Savage’s inability to assimilate into society which leads to the orgy and death of more
‘obedient’ citizens. A series of increasingly hysterical rhetorical questions is contrasted by
Silverberg’s use of the micro-sentence “no”, which makes it emphatically clear of how certain
Darival is of the course of action that he has chosen, reminiscent of other Dystopian heroes such
as Offred in “The Handmaid’s Tale” who remains determined to tell her story, despite the cost