Go Ask Alice?

Question

In the anonymous novel "Go Ask Alice," why do they put lines as phrases?
Examples:
When Alice says she's moving the first time and refers to where she lives, she just says _____.
When Alice writes about Shelia's ex-husband, she puts his name as ______.

Answer 1

This is because the novel is supposedly written Anonymously. To give the names of places, people, etc. would be to narrow the field of authors.

Answer 2

Maybe the author was European...

In Kafka's 'Das Schloss', he always writes names as K---- or R---- (examples). It's just a writing style. It tends to leave names and places for the reader's interpretation.

Of course, the author might have just wanted to be more than a little anonymous...using the names of certain people and places might have given away where the author lived and who they knew. It might not have been too difficult for any family or friends to buy the book, read it, and figure out who the author was.

BTW, is the character's name really Shelia (shehl-i-ah)? I've always spelled it Sheila (shee-lah), just like on my birth certificate. Hmmm...

Answer 3

Well, I haven't read that book in a looong time, but maybe it's just censoring a few proper nouns (because isn't based on a true story?)? Or is it because of expletives? I really can't remember. Anyway, sometimes _______ just works better than anything else....

Answer 4

The book is fiction, but was written to impersonate an actual girls diary. The implication is that they wanted to censor the names of locations and of the girl's friends (to protect the innocent and the not-so innocent, seeing as most of her friend were involved in drug parties and such in that book.) but, like I said, the book isn't true and so it was just to add an air of realism to the matter.