Watson's Use Of Parentheses And Dashes In Montana 1948

In Montana 1948, Watson’s use of parentheses and dashes allow the 52 year-old David editorialize on the experiences of the native 12 year-old David.Without these authorial interjections, David’s experiences would be presented to us through the unreliable understanding of the boy, thus limiting our ability to disconcern Watson’s overall thematic goal. For the reader it elaborates on ideas that may be unclear from a young boys perspective. Not only do the punctuation marks describe more, they also allow for quick changes in thought.
The major use of parentheses allows 52 year-old David to elaborate and to go in depth on certain information. This helps the reader get a clear understanding of what is happening from a mature perspective rather than an immature view from young David. Parentheses can give a more literal view, “...my father looked so old,(he was only thirty-eight at the time),(116)” as a child David looks at his dad as a very old man, but looking back his dad is still young. Not only do the parentheses allow David to elaborate on ideas, but as well they let Watson insert lists, “...(pinecones, branches, knotholes),(72)” to help describe mundane sentences. The small side-notes help paint a picture of what

Watson uses the dash to have sudden breaks in sentences “...worry about him breaking out--bursting into the kitchen like,like..,”(136) connecting two ideas in a sudden change. Watson is trying to show David’s young, short minded thinking by using dashes to interjection short description or thoughts. These quick and sudden thoughts describe David, and his interpretation of the events that transpired. Through the dashes Watson can also add emphasis to descriptions too. Watson can bring out David’s emotions “...father had refused to put up a fence--all our neighbors had--seperating our property..,”(27) showing how he feels about actions that