“The Sea” by John Banville: Literary convention of italics is used to distinguish thoughts that come from an alternate personality from protagonist’s own thoughts

“Once on my rambles [as a boy]…I almost stumbled over a couple [of adults]…making love under a raincoat…So this, I thought, or it was thought for me, so this is what they do” (1, p. 55).

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1. John Banville. The Sea. New York, Vintage International, 2005.