"River Of Names" - Wu

Hi, Allison Wu here. The connection between words used  in "River of Names" and the how those same words were utilized through their meaning in the piece without actually being "named" (ex: "There is such mystery in it" (pg. 6) vs. "Just like that, gone before you understand"), really stuck out to me in the entirety of this piece. Two words that I noticed which particularly had this effect were "someone" and "mystery". Elaborating on the above observation, Allison uses the word, "someone" quite carefully as she places it (usually) in repetition, "Someone came up behind me. Someone began to scream" (pg.3) and seemingly purposefully at the beginning and end of the piece - the first use present in the first paragraph, the last present on the last page of "River of Names". However, Allison uses the meaning of "someone" much more than compared to her actual use of the word. For example, when Allison writes, "We were so many we were without number and, like tadpoles, if there was one less from time to time, who counted?" (pg. 5). Here, Allison implies the "someone" by articulating the group which contains the individual, the "someone". I think Allison's utilization of this literary device captures the reader because of the ambiguity it produces - the same ambiguity this entire piece lays bear to witness.