Writing At All Ages

"We have pizza and Cokes and fruit salad for dinner, and Mrs. Heppworth made a big cake shaped like a unicorn's head with Happy Birthday Mary Christina! in red icing and we sing and Mary Christina blows out all twelve candles in one blow."  (60)

I think one of the things I noticed most about this book is the writing style. As Niffenegger switches between the narrators of Clare and Henry, she must also change the style in which they speak. This is further complicated by the fact that the characters are constantly changing age. As we age, we tend to speak differently. I think one of the perfect examples of this is comparing the 20 year old Clare from the beginning of the book to the 11 year old Clare at Mary Christina's birthday party. The way that Niffenegger portrays Clare's thoughts and writing pattern at each age really gives you the feel that she is these different ages. For instance, in the birthday scene, there are run on sentences, and the entire entry is just one big, long paragraph. Everything, including the descriptions, sounds like a child. When Clare is 20, her descriptions and writing have definitely changed and portray an educated young woman.

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