When Frank woke each day … it was always to the music of the man at his labor: the clatter of keys, the slam and ding of the carriage return after return, the shuffling of papers, the sighing and stomping and creaking of the chair.”
-- Frank Merlo (chapter 3)

Importance: Frank’s narrative establishes the image of Tennessee Williams at work, by engaging both sight and sound. Frank’s diction contains onomatopoeia to create the sounds of the typewriter. By describing Tenn’s typing as music, it emphasizes the rhythmic nature of the sounds. Moreover, by comparing Tenn’s writing to the work of a musician, Frank emphasizes that Tenn is creating a work of creative art. Just as music evokes feeling in its listeners, Tenn’s plays elicit comparable emotions in their audiences.

Frank was the palm tree in the hurricane, slashed and bent by the wind, pushed to the point of splitting, as he...
-- Frank Merlo (chapter 3)