The Shift in Structure and Style of Like a Hurricane

Between the opening chapters and the next part of Like a Hurricane, there is a shift in the structure and the way that the text is presented. In the beginning chapters of Like A Hurricane, the text is written in a very straightforward, factual manner. This part of the book is fragmented and disconnected, as there are many stories that are sporadically placed between historical facts. In addition, these chapters follow a chronological pattern for the most part.

In contrast, starting in chapter four, the text can be classified more as a narrative than a historical account. It begins to shift from an episodic nature to having a storyline. The first several chapters contain various stories without much reflection whereas in these next chapters, the story starts to connect more.

In addition, in this part of the book, the text becomes more descriptive and more dialogue is incorporated into these chapters than in the beginning of the book, as evidenced by the first several pages of chapter five. There are also more side notes included in this section of the text. For instance, when discussing Richard Oakes, the statement, “Where is our leader? Oh he’s too busy partying with celebrities and reading his press clippings to bother with actually showing up here anymore” is in parentheses, which demonstrates the shift of the structure from formal and rigid to more of a narrative.

The change of structure from a historical account to more of a narrative style is observed between the first two sections of the book, and the more descriptive and detailed diction and the addition of dialogue further illustrates this shift.

~A.B.