Week 5

This week I read Lullaby to page 117.

Steator has learned the culling song and starts using it on innocent people when they bother him. He learns that Helen has been working for the government using the song to kill the undesirables, terrors, and demons of the earth. This keeps her from killing at random like Streator. The two have joined up with Helen's hippie assistant, Mona, and her boyfriend, Oyster, on a cross-country road trip to rip out page 27 of all known copies of Poems and Rhymes from Around the World from libraries in the United States. Unfortunately many times the book is checked out so they must use their quick-wit and scamming abilities to get to the fatal page 27.

I have begun to notice many sylistic and thematic cross-literary connections in Palahniuk's work. In terms of style this author frequently uses repetative lines throughout his story that fit the theme of the novel.
In Invisible Monsters it was "Give me ____. Flash. Give me _____. Flash." This tied to the narrator's feelings during each scene as well as her fashion model background and persona.
He also began paragraphs with "Jump to..." for he was constantly moving forward and backward in his storyline
Lullaby uses more of this repetition throughout the book:
The main line being, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words hurt like hell." This is meant to show the power behind the human word and relate to the lethal abilities of the culling song.
The narrator also commonly uses this formated line. "These noise-oholics, the sound-ophobics. He will insert other words like "drama" and "peace" or "distraction" and "focus" to fit with the scene but it is meant to portray societies addiction to distraction. People drown out the world around them to avoid confrontation. Interestingly another frequently-used sentence by the narrator is"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to looking at everything up close." It is a completely different from of distraction but continues to fit this theme. I noticed recently that Streator always describes Helen gaudy outfits with such immaculate detail. I wonder if this will relate to "looking closely" "and forgetting the big picture" as if there is some plot twisting secret about Helen that he is overlooking. This block quote relates well with the theme of distraction:
"Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big brother's busy holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed."

In terms of thematic connections I also have noticed a few. In both Invisible Monsters and Lullaby there are as mismatched group of characters out on the open road distant from society full-filling some self-proclaimed purpose. Both stories also include con artists earning money in an unusual and unconstitutional way. In Invisible Monsters Brandy Alexander, Manus, and Shannon gal avant around the U.S. covering as wealthy real-estate buyers to steal drugs from the medicine cabinets of the rich and famous to use and sell. In Lullaby Helen uses her knowledge of the the culling song to work as a hit man for the government. Also, Oyster posts advertisements of this nature:

Attention Patrons of the Country House Golf Club
Have you contracted a medication-resistant staph infection from the swimming pool or locker room facilities? If so, please call the following number to be a part of a class action law suit."

The ads are false but only he knows that and he earns his fortune by how much the companies are willing to pay for him to take down his signs.
The usage of these signs also play a role in Palahniuk's repetitions style as they are seen frequently throughout the book.