Half-Formed Sentences

    My first question as I began reading the first chapters of "A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing" was who is the narrator of this story. The first chapter was seemingly narrated by the mother of the young boy, but then also seemed to be narrated by the unborn baby. In reading the second chapter, it was obvious that it was the little girl telling the story. The narration jump was a little hard to follow, as I was barely used to the structure of story before it shifted. The style of the sentences is very difficult to follow because it can change from one thought to the next without any warning. The "stream of consciousness" is mirrored in the short burst of thoughts that are seemingly incomplete, but don't take away from conveying the story. I expected to be really confused by the choppiness, so I think that I was going in with that mindset. As soon as I was able to piece together the short bits of sentences, it became easier to read as I went along. It felt like I was reading from the mind of a child. Like whoever is narrating has a short attention span, forgets a lot of details (except for the important parts), and doesn't tell the whole story. I still can't quite place my finger on what is missing from the sentences, however. Is it articles? Action verbs? At first, I thought the entire thing was written in a passive voice but that wasn't it.
    I had a much harder time reading the six pages of "Ulysses." Even though the thoughts were more whole and complete, the lengthy paragraphs made it more difficult to follow along with Leopold's stream of consciousness. Joyce uses his paragraphs to show us how his attention is flitting around the room, and the sentences are reflective of how the brain works as we try to take in a new room all at once. We don't note every detail, but pick up on the ones that catch our attention. I think that Leopold Bloom is Joyce's attempt at creating an objective observer that allows a character to provides an inside look at the life of Dublin and its people. Unlike in our novel, we are in the mind of an adult in "Ulysses," so we are getting a much more mature look at the world, without any of the important details being left out.
   The point of a style that mimics the stream of consciousness is so that the reader is introduced to a narration style that reflects how their own brain works. We may not realize it but when our senses are being overloaded, most of the time we don't think in complete thoughts. In "A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing," the narrator is a child, and children are constantly learning new things about the world using their senses. So in that story, we see a lot of jumping around and distractedness. Adult thoughts are much more coherent and complete, that is why in "Ulysses," the paragraphs are longer and more detailed. It also provides a very intimate knowledge of the events to be 100% in the mind of a person experiencing them.