Why do you have to do this?!.. Oh that's why...

 Reading through Power's Generosity, I was constantly reminded that "I know the story" and that in addition to the story itself, there was also another story line in a sense that told the story of how the story was being written.  I held the same sentiment as Professor Grobstein when he felt that if one was to question the reasoning behind one of the stories, then there will simply be an infinite regress and the reasoning may never actually be possible to arrive at.  So I wondered to myself, what on Earth could have been Power's purpose in structuring this book this way.  Once I asked myself this, I was reminded of another incredibly confusing novel that I read last year: Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo.

Pedro Paramo, while fairly a short novel, was one of the more difficult ones to read in my opinion.  This was due to the way in which it was written.  The novel is told in a series of flashbacks and in a "stream of consciousness" method where no clear distinction of which character's thoughts are being read at the moment can be distinguished.  I became lost in the chaos of the plot, having a hard time understanding what is exactly happening at the moment as I read the novel.  Once I felt that sense of confusion, I was able to hypothesize Rulfo's purpose: he wanted the reader to feel the chaos and confusion that was such an important part of the novel.  So now I come back to Powers' book and the discussion our group had on Thursday.  The most plausible reason why Powers may be writing in this manner could be to separate and emotionally detach the reader from being able to engage with the main characters.  By doing so, maybe then can the reader simulate the same feelings that the main character Russell Stone feels about his surrounding world.