Final answer:
The pacing choices in 'Rainy River' reflect the narrative's theme by using descriptive language and slow movement to emphasize the heaviness of the workers' lives, contrasting with the river's ultimate journey toward a brighter environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
The effect of pacing choices in a narrative is a crucial part of storytelling that controls the rhythm and flow of a story, impacting a reader's emotional response. By manipulating the speed at which a narrative unfolds and employing varying sentence and paragraph lengths, an author can influence the intensity and urgency of the story's events. In the context of 'Rainy River,' the use of detailed, descriptive language and the comparison of the river's constant, sluggish movement with the monotonous, bleak existence of workers creates an almost tangible sense of oppression and fatigue.
The heavy and slow-moving river symbolically reflects the lives of the workers, who are described with intense detail to emphasize their hopeless, grinding existence. The river's journey towards more pleasant environs contrasts sharply with the workers' grim future, creating a poignant juxtaposition. Such pacing and detail in the narrative bring the reader closer to the characters' experiences and elicit a deeper empathetic connection.