Is MWT brilliant or what?

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

I'm re∞reading the series in preparation for reading book 5, and as always I keep finding little clues here and there that should have TOLD us some of the twists.

I just noticed this one in QoA. You know how Eugenides and friends sneak a bunch of cannon down the river bed in order to flush the queen out of Ephrata? And how we find out later (and through hints earlier on) that the cannon were made out of wood and that's how they were able to get them down so easily? Yeah yeah, look at THIS. MWT tells us right at the first mention of them that they're wooden, with a sneakily absent Oxford comma:



At first read, it seems like a simple list and we were all like, "Wooo, cannon! Bringing out the big guns!"

But no, no! If that were the case it should read, "Those in the rear struggled with block and tackle, roughly squared wooden beams, wooden carriages, and cannon."

But by leaving out that last comma, she's basically shouting that these are wooden carriages and WOODEN cannon. I double checked; throughout the rest of the book she uses an Oxford comma as usual when listing things, so this was definitely deliberate.

Then of course, there's other little/obvious hints through the rest of the trip, but my mind is just blown that she told us right out the gate that the cannon were wooden, and I never noticed this particular tiny clue before.

This amount of genius must be exhausting.

Comments

[an-english-girl.livejournal.com]

Those are the sort of things where she complains about having had to bite her tongue for 20 years!

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

That is beautiful! The distinction of even a comma as a clue... Love it.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I KNOW, RIGHT?

I actually took a picture of this exact sentence during my last re-read (but promptly forgot about sharing it with Sounis).

This reminds me of my favorite tumblr post:

"my three favorite things are the oxford comma, irony, and missed opportunities."

XD

[eachase.livejournal.com]

Be still my heart. I *love* Oxford commas.

(Or, as I like to put it, "You have have my Oxford commas when you pry them from my cold, dead, clutching hands.")

I can't believe I never noticed that before because I tend to notice whether authors do (yay!) or don't (boo!) use them.

Obviously MWT would use them because they're necessary for absolute clarity. Even if we *still* miss the point.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Around here, we like to call that "the comma an entire plot hinged on." Brilliant!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

A hint hinging on an Oxford comma! (Or lack thereof.) I love this! Also I love Oxford commas.

[filkferengi]

That was incredibly clever of you! Please share any further nuggets you find.

Also, Oxford commas, ftw!

[celebrilomiel.livejournal.com]

That is brilliant. So subtle! I've always held that Oxford commas are important, but I've never seen one (or, rather, the deliberate lack of one) so significant, nor one so slyly handled.

Thank you for sharing the revelation.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm glad you share my appreciation for this tiny detail. I've tried to explain to my coworkers (who haven't read the book) just how mind-blowingly brilliant this lack-of-comma was....but it's hard to describe. It's been a couple of weeks since I saw this, and it's still astounding me.