Comment on the author’s use of tone and voice of the character Calliope in this extract.
The author makes Calliope’s voice quite direct, using a lot of short clauses which comment on her own emotions and the state of the world around her. This observational tone combined with propositions such as, “Perhaps he hasn’t thought of what it is like to be me,” allow the extract to form a clear image of how Calliope feels in the situation she describes: she is not understood and she is alone in her suffering. She questions her reality a lot, the need for it and the purpose behind it. Rhetorical questions such as, “Can he really believe he has something new to say?” or “How much epic poetry does the world really need?” all play into this narrative of it all being unnecessary, that none of it is required and is all built up on a greed for more fame and wealth and money, forgetting the true purpose behind any of in the first place.
The author also uses anaphora as a staple in Calliope’s voice, utilising the repetition to highlight the monotony and “foreverness” of this situation. It is all a cycle, as evident by the end of the extract, and the character of Calliope embodies this, having experienced everything already. “Every conflict joined, every war fought very city besieged, every town sacked, every village destroyed.”