AHWOSG-2

 "We shouldn't spend the last hours fighting it; no, we will know and let it go--turn the TV off right away, of course-- But would that be too dramatic?  Fuck, we can be dramatic here, we can-- Well, we'd ask her, of course, dumbshit, it'd be up to Mom of course, the TV, whether it was on or off--it's her show of course--that's a dumb way of putting it, 'her show,' so crass, such disrespect, you fucking dumbshit.  Fuck.  Okay, so we'd have some time, we could sit there, hang out, just sit there, it'd be nice--  Jesus, it's not going to be nice, not with the blood everywhere--"

The fact that this passage is written completely in stream of consciousness makes Eggers' mind absolutely and powerfully accessible to the reader.  The passage is honest and only crudely filtered, and the stream of consciousness style is the appropriate device to portray how the sensitivity and functionality necessitated by an expected death is awkward for Eggers.  Thoughts of death are ever present in his mind, and his self-consciousness in dealing with this matter is highlighted by the line, "it's her show of course--that's a dumb way of putting it, 'her show,' so crass, such disrespect, you fucking dumbshit;'' the first clause is his uninhibited thinking, and the second is his self-consciousness rebuking him for the insensitivity of his first thought.  The conflict between Eggers uninhibited and Eggers crudely filtered reveals his belief that sensitivity is always and constantly required with death; Eggers' is unable to think freely even away from the judgement of others.  In addition, Eggers seems to have convinced himself that his mother's imminent death requires him to take charge and run things kind of like when a person throws a party.  He writes, " Okay, so we'd have some time, we could sit there, hang out, just sit there, it'd be nice-- "  It's like he feels it is his job to be host, to accommodate people, even though the party would have run smoothly even without his presence.  Then the self-conscious self-doubting strikes and he thinks, "Jesus, it's not going to be nice, not with the blood everywhere--"  Once again two sides of him conflict: his duty-burdened side, and his self-conscious side.

To strengthen his use of stream of consciousness, Eggers uses obscene diction and a mindful syntactical arrangement.  Using profanity in this passage works well because it adds to the crudity of the passage and the reality of these being actual thoughts.  Plus, it accentuates his discomfort and self-consciousness.  As for syntax, Eggers uses a generous amount of dashes, and this makes the hiccupy nature of his thoughts more obvious and the conflicting nature of his thoughts more defined.