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Drawing from contemporary studies in real-life persuasion, the present paper underscores its centrality in the book of Ruth. I investigate the persuasive elegance of the opening scene (1:6–18) and its representational importance to subsequent scenes of persuasion in Ruth. The paper describes specific literary devices deployed by Naomi and Ruth in their quest to persuade each other. In particular, it notes the persuasive effects of repetitions, rhetorical questions, hypothetical scenes, emotive language, polite addresses, and oath-swearing formulae. Additionally, I highlight the importance of these devices in the protagonists’ characterization, the book’s plot, and its narrative space.

A critical event for the ability of cells to tolerate DNA damage and replication stress is activation of the ATR kinase. ATR activation is dependent on the BRCT repeat-containing protein TopBP1. Previous work has shown that recruitment of TopBP1 to sites of DNA damage and stalled replication forks is necessary for downstream events in ATR activation, however the mechanism for this recruitment was not known. Here, we use protein binding assays and functional studies in Xenopus egg extracts to show that TopBP1 makes a direct interaction, via its BRCT2 domain, with RPA-coated ssDNA. We identify a point mutant that abrogates this interaction, and show that this mutant fails to accumulate at sites of DNA damage, and that the mutant cannot activate ATR. These data thus supply a mechanism for how the critical ATR activator, TopBP1, senses DNA damage and stalled replication forks to initiate assembly of checkpoint signaling complexes.