A Stab

As the narrator drives through the campus with Mr. Norton in the back of the car, suffering in the aftershock of their encounters, he has an internal dialogue going on. He is describing the tranquil university scene around him with a trance-like aura when "in the brief interval [he] heard a cheer arise. [His] predicament struck [him] like a stab" (99). The shorter second sentence appears like a short, sharp knife into the rest of the calm, imagery-filled sentences. In this moment, as the narrator feels he is losing control of the car, he slams on the breaks. The short 'stabbing' sentence effectively slams on the breaks of the description and allows the narrator's realization to fully register in his mind: that he had lost control of the situation with Mr. Norton and was now unable to stop the events that would unfold as a result.