Question:
Stein's "Gentle Lena"
Stein uses repetition not merely to define the minds of characters but also to impress ideas indelibly on the reader's consciousness. For example, in a single sentence, the word brown is repeated nine times. In describing the voyage to America, Stein writes that Lena felt "she would die," she was "sure that every minute she would die," she was "sure that she was going to die," and "she was sure that she would die." The details of Lena's discomfort are not offered. Do the repetitions nevertheless convey to the reader Lena's suffering and cause the reader to share Lena's frightened sense that she would die? If so, explain