comment on style

Each of the narrators in this novel is given a distinctive voice, especially Cholly. Cholly demonstrates how self-confident he is as he brags to his friends in the bar about what a good job he has. For instance: “Did I ever get around to telling you guys that being a reporter in New York is the greatest job in the world? I did? Well, forgive me, but I’m going to say it again. Anyway, you have to forgive me, ‘cause I’m buying. Barney, could we have a round of beers?” (117). Cholly is very informal as he talks with his friends in the bar. When Cholly appears later in the novel after forty years has passed, his maturity is evidenced by his more formal speech. For example: “Ladies and gentlemen, young Americans striving one day to be great journalists, since we have never met before let me introduce myself. My name is Charles Bloom. I have been a working journalist, mainly in this city, for almost fifty years” (223).