comment on style / language

The story’s prose is generally frank and straightforward so as to directly emphasize narrative elements of tension and thematic elements of personal ethics. For example, a central source of narrative tension is the supposed threat of Worm causing an earthquake to strike Tokyo. This tension is first introduced when Frog says to Katagiri that “an urgent matter brings me here” (92). The urgency is then further increased when Frog states that the earthquake will likely kill about 150,000 people in Tokyo if it is not prevented. Although Frog may potentially be a mere figment, the lack of any irrefutable evidence to the contrary lends a persistent air of tension and possibility to Frog’s warnings.