For my annotations, I first chose the phrase

“In retrospect it seemed as though, in that deranged moment, I
had wakened to a process that had been quietly rewiring my life
for- a decade, more or less since I chose my first, cryptic email
address (imagine broadcasting my real name on ‘the internet’).”

• Here we see the author’s tone shift. How does it shift? What purpose does this serve for either the narrative or the reader? Explain.
• How do you think this tone shift changes how you read this passage if you were to read it a second time?
• How would you characterize the author based on this? Describe them using both literary terms and personal descriptors (for example, “unreliable narrator” and “pleasant”, respectively).

The second idea I had wasn’t a full annotation per se:

• How is The Reverse Peephole related to The Fourth Dimension? How is this introduction related to the primary text? Why are they juxtaposed? How does this change how you view either section of the work? Discuss.

The purpose of these annotations is to have students think more about how texts relate to not only other texts but also to their readers and authors. It was something that I really enjoyed (and still enjoy) observing!

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