Oates has an uncanny ability to get inside the heads of her characters even when she does not write from a first-person point of view. In What I Lived For, she writes in the third-person, always focused on Corky's perceptions. By using the present tense, vulgar and sexual vocabulary, fragmented sentences, unanswered questions, and minimal dialogue, she forces her readers to see the world as Corky sees it. Here is Corky on his gun that has been stolen: "He thinks of the German Luger, the heft of it in his hand . . . Except Corky'd have a hard time using a gun. On anyone. Even in self-defense." From here, Oates has Corky think about his Irish ancestors and the factory system where "they all worked twelvehour days. When they were lucky" and then meditate philosophically.....
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