Commentary on Excerpt B

It is interesting to speculate on what Dave should have said in response to Frank's account. From one perspective, Frank's account was manifestly self-indicting and Dave had an obligation to Laura, if not to Frank or to himself, to tell him so. From another perspective, however, saying these things would have been rhetorically inappropriate, if not downright presumptuous. Presumptuous because Frank's version of things had not yet been challenged and explored through dialogue. Inappropriate, in any case, because it would very likely have closed off the conversation and undermined the friendship. Frank did, after all, confide in Dave, offering to him an invitation to discuss the matter. Dave needed eventually to test Frank's account, comparing it against rival interpretations, but what he needed to do initially was to provide support to Frank, signaling to him his availability as a friend. This he did by way of humble irony (Burke, 1969), setting himself up, in his recollections of past conversations about Jane, as being at least as much of a fool as Frank, and thereby letting Frank know that his actions would not be judged from a stance of moral superiority.