Hi, Karen Chau here.
In "The Management of Grief," Mukherjee structures the story as snapshots of events happening. The paragraph breaks are chosen based on when a scene ends and another one begins. A vivid example of this is when the narrator expresses her recollection of the effects of pills and how she feels. She says, "Not peace, just a deadening quiet. I was always controlled, but never repressed. Sound can reach me, but my body is tensed, ready to scream. I hear their voices all around me. I hear my boys and Vikram cry, 'Mommy, Shaila!' and their screams insulate me, like headphones" (418). These sentences build up the tension that is within the narrator through getting more and more specific about what the narrator's exact feelings are. After this crescendo of tension, the paragraph ended there, and the next paragraph began with "The woman boiling water tells her story..." (418). These shifts in scenes, especially after emotional ones, give the reader a chance to "breathe" and reflect on what was previously stated. The abrupt shifts also keeps the story moving at a good pace.
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