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One of the truly most horrifying parts of Mouthwashing is the relationship between Anya and J*mmy. It’s the civil conversation between them. It’s Anya having to ask Jimmy for help. It’s Jimmy feeling comfortable talking to her and making fun of her to her face. It’s Anya talking to Jimmy about the crash as if they’re simply just coworkers in a bad situation together. But it’s the fear on her face. The implied tremble in her voice. The horror of subtext. Anya is stuck with her rapist. She doesn’t know what he’ll do next. She is not only stuck with him but RELIES on him. He is the captain now. She has to ask this monster for help. And he berates her for it. They are in a situation entirely of Jimmy’s creation but he punishes Anya for it.
It speaks a lot on real rapist/victim relationships. We’re not all so lucky as to be able to shut them out entirely. We’re not all so lucky that we get to be cruel back, show our teeth and bite. Sometimes we have to play nice. This is the terrifying reality of Mouthwashing
LITERALLY PLEASE JUST START A NEW PARAGRAPH, THANK YOU.
Please
Please, please, please, please, PLEASE,
When writing fiction
And a character is talking
And a line of dialogue from a different character starts up
PLEASE
START. A. NEW. PARAGRAPH.
We can argue the arbitrary nature of the rules of writing in English all the day long but the truth of the matter is, that is how it’s been done to make reading easier for a long time and if you’re going to break the rule or use an exception, you need to know how to do it, and not just assume that anyone reading can follow along your incomprehensible string of dialogue unseparated by new paragraph breaks.
PLEASE