"Lethal" by Joyce Carol Oates

I would say that voice is established within the very first few lines of this piece. Oates employs a tremendous amount of repetition, especially in the beginning. The "a little" sentences followed by various parts of the woman's body set up a sort of pace and rhythm. There's also many breaks throughout that expose, not just the violent narrator losing his train of thought, but the breaks also speed up the pace of what's being said. Exclamation points also accent this sort of frantic speed at which the narrator is speaking in, i.e. "Don't giggle! Don't squirm!" Also, the first person and how Oates' character describes not just his intentions, but also his sort of commentating on his victim's reactions with lines like that evoke the terror at what's happening. Furthermore, I thought the last few sentences and the last paragraph show a shift in the character's emotions to a certain extent. While at first in a place of power and domination, the narrator is humiliated, and it's through his asking questions and italicization Oates shows us that he's getting angry and more frustrated, thus giving the reader a snapshot as to the maniac that's being described.