In our Three Guys post, “50 Things A Writer Shouldn’t Do“, I talked about the folly of isolating your lead character.
So here comes Yiyun Li, in the November 16th issue of the New Yorker. In a great example of Chinese/American cultural fusion called Alone, she isolates her lead character.
Suchen is dining solo in an outdoor restaurant in the scenic American west. There is surrounding table talk of forest fires miles away. There is no immediate danger to the edge of the resort town where they are seated. But mentioning the fires caught my attention, kept me on guard for more developments and created a sense of unease. Meanwhile the writer started to sneak in the real content of the plot: Why is Suchen alone?
It’s hard to pull this off unless, as a writer, you realize how loners think and how to convey the jet stream of their thinking when there’s no one onstage to share their thoughts.
Since the writer has a central character who’s isolated, that character especially notices how other diners are behaving and what they’re saying. You’re not going to notice others very much if you have someone at your table who is really worth your attention.
Suchen notices a loner guy who intrudes his small talk on a middle-aged couple at an adjoining table. So we have Suchen “stalking” another loner. Suchen then imagines what this couple will say to each other about the stranger who intruded on their conversation when they are alone . The couple have their own marital conversational world which has been broken into but will then be resealed.
Walter, the loner under observation, and Suchen are at this vacation spot for the day. Walter ends up stalking Suchen in a harmless sort of way. He invites her to an “event” that evening. He’s a widower mourning his loss. We learn that Suchen’s marriage has broken up. Again why? Why is Suchen alone? What’s eating her?
Suchen is wandering around the western United States in an infinite postponement. I’ll get to what she is postponing in a minute. But along the way she recalls all those very American, causal conversations that we have when traveling. Suchen gets: “Where are you headed?” from mechanics and store clerks.
I get my doppio from Jack most mornings. “Thanks, Jack.” “Take care, Jack.” Real guy, Jack exists…I’m fond of him. But with Suchen these shoot-the-breeze small talks take place in a Twilight Zone atmosphere. Suchen plans to off herself when she reaches the crossing into Vancouver. She’s in an infinite postponement of oblivion.
If you are going to write about a certain type of character, then you have to know that character’s psychology. If you don’t have a clue as to what makes such a person tick, then find something else to write about or confine your writing to Facebook.
Yiyun Li is on the money in discussing isolated characters. She knows just how they tick. When I was much younger and in college, I thought about suicide and I nearly did it. That was a long time ago but you can tell real cream cheese when you taste it. You enter a twilight zone where nothing seems real and you are always postponing the act and, therefore, you enter hell. Yiyun Li has nailed it and put Suchen in it.
Yiylun Li does a slow-onion-peel reveal of Suchen’s life, her marriage, it’s meaning as a failed attempt to run away from the trauma of her childhood. Don’t worry, this story reveals all the background in detail. You can decide if you find that background plausible and convincing. I’m not sure about that. But the technique of revelation, the writing skill, is masterful.
If you’ve read my posts before then you know that I love connections to myth and folklore. There’s a great example in Alone. An old lady, Mrs. Dream, lives at the bridge between this world and the next. When you are about to pass over, she offers you a cup of tea. If you drink it, you’ll forget everything about this world as you pass to the next.
I don’t want to forget about expresso, about good deal guys like Jack, my barista, and I certainly don’t want to forget about the Three Guys. But my problem is that I am very fond of a good cup of tea. So I would probably take Mrs. Dream’s cup. Would you?
-DH
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