Comment on style / language

The language the author employs in shaping each story collected in The Rock Eaters is accessible, yet not without complexity and nuance. Because each story is narrated by a different individual or group of individuals, the language the narrators' use is unique to their understanding of themselves and the world around them. The narrators of "Thoughts and Prayers," "The Whitest Girl," "Yaiza," "The Drownings," and "The Dreamers," are all children. The way the narrators think, see, speak, and process is therefore indicative of and inspired by their youth. For example, in "Thoughts and Prayers," when the policewomen take Rima out of school during recess, the narrator says: "I thought the police were arresting Rima—for just being her fierce, untamable self" (6). The narrator's interpretation of what is happening, and her means of describing it, stem immediately from her age and her innocence.