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The last couple of pages of The Sorrows of An American gave the feel of a film montage. Montage, as an film technique, is based upon the system of sequence recognition of objects into the brain. The film theorist Eisenstein argued that montage is an intellectual “Synthesis that evolves from the opposition between thesis and antithesis.” A montage cell (a single shot within a montage sequence) doesn’t need to maintain continuity with previous cells, in fact, the greatest impact is made when it does not. What matters is the emotional or psychological end the scene leads to. Indeed, these last few passages do reflect a kind of intellectual synthesis on the part of the main character, Erik. It’s interesting that a portion of the novel actual deals with the intricacies of a film, arguably the most influential medium of media of the 20^th (and 21^st?) century. Seeing as how she uses nearly every literary genre in putting together this story, it only makes sense that she should also use film. I might have liked to see the use of puppets somewhere in the novel, but I guess that’s asking a bit much. Maybe that’s just material for a final presentation…?