From his reading of Ernest Hemingway, Ellison learned the importance of detailed physical descriptions. For example, the much of the drama in "A Party down at the Square" is derived from the young narrator's detailed perception of the woman electrocuted by the downed power line and the black man burned alive by the lynch mob. Likewise, James Weaver's trip to McAlester consists of a series of impressions—the river, the bridge, the oil fields, and even the cow he sees out the plane window. Also Mr. Porter's multiple sensory impressions of the Welsh club help him to understand both that "strange country" and, indirectly, America, where he has often considered himself a stranger. Without the vivid description of the turning bingo wheel, the reader would experience less directly the desperation with which "the King" holds on to.....
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