Separate Kingdoms, Separate Columns, and Separate Perspectives

Valerie Laken writes the story “Separate Kingdoms,” in interesting ways. In the story, there are two columns in order to show two stories, and each story is described by a different perspective. The occurrence of both stories at the same time triggers interest to readers. For those unique writing skills, she is able to deliver her point more efficiently. Tragic mutual incomprehension is caused by a lack of communication with family members. Through one family story, Laken not only indicates a lack of communication and individual attention in but also provides us how to deal with the problem. The first step of understanding would be in other’s shoes.

Above all, in a Laken’s story is about a lack of communication and a mutuality of understanding between the members of a family. In the story, there are three members of the family; a father, Colt, who usually watches on TV; his wife, Cheri, who usually dose exercise; a son, Jack, who usually plays Xbox. In every single page, interesting way that the author builds the structure of a family’s story with two columns is applied by two different perspectives. The first column is told by an invisible storyteller and the second column is told by son’s view, first-person view. Although each column has a different perspective, both columns narrate the same story about after Colt is cut off his thumbs in accident at work. A Colt’s house is negatively narrated by a third-person view. From the perspective, “Over the TV and the Xbox and the basement DVD strains … you can hear them not giving anybody ten minutes of peace in their own goddamn home.” (Laken 4) It explains a phenomenon in the house that each member of family keeps on doing something and never stops to do it. For this reason, there is no time to make conversations among the family members, and they are unable to understand each other. I believe the author wants to show there is an invisible barrier within family likewise the space between two columns, two perspectives.

Two columns provide a boost to Laken’s points, a mutual incomprehension in family. In Laken’s story, there are two separate kingdoms, an animal and a human kingdom. From first-person view, Jack thinks “Whenever he lets out Hank and Eddie he goes outside and pees with them.” (Laken 1) According to this, he feels his father like a dog. It means he considers his dad as an animal. In addition, Colt’s room is called the reject room and this room is described as an animal kingdom by Jack. He states, “I put down the joystick and go through the kitchen to the back room, which smells like a mixture of hamster and hospital.”(Laken 2) When he goes to the reject room, he seems like a wounded animal lives there. Those Jack’s thoughts demonstrate the lack of understanding of Colt’s situation. Colt loses his thumbs as well as he loses his identity as a human. In the technology society, our thumbs have a crucial role in linking between a human and technology. In other words, the meaning of losing our thumbs is same as losing a human’s capacity. From third-person view, Colt’s behavior is observed by the author, “He balances the remote control against his thigh with the heel of one bandaged hand and carefully, without moving his fingers too much, gets himself to Animal Planet.” (Laken 1) The description of his behavior shows his difficulties of using technology without two thumbs. Nevertheless, Colt watches the show “Animal Planet.” His behavior is hard to understand for his son and wife. Jack expresses, “He turns back to the TV, where it’s another animal show, of course… Leave me and Mom behind to fend for ourselves.” (Laken 4) Though Jack’s account, readers are able to recognize Colt’s abnormal behavior, fixated on animal show, goes hard with his family. It also indicates there is barrier between Colt and other family members.

The lack of incomprehension and communication could be treated by endeavor. In Laken’s story, she attempts to release conflicts between family members. Chosen one of ways is column breaks. From left column to right column, “Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh. Duh. Guh…” (Laken 6) It is the sound of playing a drum by Jack. From this moment, his drum sound is able to share in both perspectives. It is not only sharing the sound but it is also his desire to be part in a same house and space that means by family. The sound is vitalized by the author. Laken makes readers are able to hear the rhythm of the Jack’s drum by leaving the margin between the words. As she creates the effective way of expression about Jack’s effort, the sense of the sound delivers to readers well. In spite of Jack effort, it fails of achieving his goal. However, Jack struggles against two separate kingdoms in order to unite a family. In the end of the story, he says to mom “’Yesterday I tried to do everything all day without my thumbs,’ I say.” (Laken 17) What he try to do has same experiences of his father. Sharing same thoughts from same experiences might be first step of understanding each others. Like Laken’s story, although the author provides two perspectives in two stories, it is hard to figure out Colt’s thought because those perspectives are not in Colt’s view. As his son change his point of view to his father of view, Laken wants to show the possibility of understanding between family members.

The shortage of comprehension and interest in a family is not everything in the Laken’s story. Beyond that, the story is a sad reflection of our society. To prove that she gives a key to reader that those separate kingdoms is caused by technology. Colt’s thumbs are cut off by a machine, and he belongs to animal kingdom. The members of family are isolated in their individual space by using the technology. That is why the story of family has a connection to our technology society. Finally, as Laken shows efforts of understanding in a family, the ultimate goal of her essay meets the idea of how an individual can restore the problem of technology society.

Visual strategies in Valerie Laken’s story, “Separate Kingdoms”

1. In every single page, there are two separate columns. Laken chose this way to emphasize there are two separate Kingdoms.

2. Using the column bridges, she wants to show two stories occur at the same time.

3. Repeating some sound such as “Duh. Guh. Duh Guh …” and “pater Pater pater” makes a semantic value of a text transform into the image of the rhythm.

4. As jack plays his drum, there are some different patterns of typography such as “Duh. Guh. duh. guh…” and “pa ter pa ter pa ter Pat pa...” It indicates the volume of sound and rhythms of sound.

5. She uses the italic font in some parts.

The purpose of Separate Kingdom

In the story “Separate Kingdom,” Valerie Laken seems to try to explain having difficulty understanding the suffering of others from the viewpoint of someone else. Although the author provides two perspectives in two stories, it is hard to figure out Colt’s thought because those perspectives are not in Colt’s view. However, Colt’s wife and his son, in the end of story, try to understand Colt’s pains by changing the view point of him. Furthermore, for this story, she might want to show the way how to understand someone’s sufferings.

Assignment 1.3

Old controlling purpose: people need to think how we select useful information and put it in our memory.

New controlling purpose: I think the effective way of dealing with information is trying to preserve personal experience in a flood of information, no matter what shame and forgetting are involved in our memory.

Revised introduction

In the essay “Shame and Forgetting in the Information Age” by Charles Baxter, he seems to make people think how to control our memory more effectively in the information era. In modern age, industrial development has caused prodigious amounts of information. For this reason, increased information not only threatens the value of personal experience but also it causes shame from the anxiety of forgetting. I think the effective way of dealing with information is trying to preserve personal experience in a flood of information, no matter what shame and forgetting are involved in our memory.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

In the essay “Shame and Forgetting in the Information Age” by Charles Baxter, he seems to remind people that they are not aware of their need for living in the information era. In modern age, industrial development has caused prodigious amounts of information. For this reason, increased information makes people confusion about the information whether which information is useful or not. In Baxter’s essay, he might suggest that people need to think how we select useful information and put it in our memory.

Before the essay begins, Baxter provides an epigraph "We have transformed information into a form of garbage." (p.141). It gives a clue to the readers what the author tries to say before reading. From this epigraph, the readers easily recognize that he has a negative view of information with representing as garbage. This kind of author’s perspective on information helps the readers’ understanding of information in modern society.

Baxter begins his essay with a personal insight from his brother, Tom. In his essay “Tom was an outcast of the information age,” (p.141) his brother cannot possible to learn printed information. However, he has a special ability to remember narrative information. For example, he never forgets someone’s names he ever met before and stories he ever heard before. Although he tries to absorb printed information trough his life, he cannot achieve it. He feels shame life because of forgetting the information. The author tries to explain modern people who live in a flood of information through Tom’s story. His brother story is not only personal story but also it implies suffering from shame in information society that is by forgetting of information.

This essay is divided into five parts. In the first part, Baxter states about his brother in order to show that there are two kinds of information in information age. One is information from a personal experience. Another is information from based on data. In the second part, he explains getting information with confusion from data and experiences. He says “A proliferation of information causes information-inflation. That is every individual piece of information loses some values given the sheer quantity of other information. Some information turns quickly into garbage. Bad information may well force out good, in a Gresham’s Law of data processing.” (p.146) With the development of society, increasing the amount of information causes “information-inflation.” As a result, he indicates that exposure too much information brings the confusion of the value of information. In the third part of the essay, Baxter emphasizes the importance on memory from empirical experiences. He takes some parts from the essay “The Storyteller” which is written by Benjamin. “Benjamin argues that the explosion of information in the Modern Age is denying us something precious: ‘the ability to exchange experiences.’ That is, storytelling.” (p.149) As Benjamin says, modern people forget the value of experiences by the side effects of information-glut. People live in poor experience and in rich data-memory. In the forth part of the essay, Baxter points that even though memoirs should be based on someone’ experiences, it also is affected by strategic amnesia. In the essay, “In a dysfunctional narrative, true accountability vanishes. No one seems to be responsible for anything, or else the wrong people are accused of what many not, in fact, have happened at all. This is usually a complex response to shame” (p.153) he explains how strategic amnesia effects in a memoir. Editors try to remove some parts of bad memories unwittingly in writing about memoirs, since they do not want to be responsible for accusing. In this process, they feel shame. In the fifth part, the author informs the appearance of the new kind of literature which it relies on erasure. However, this literature seems like to be in a chaotic situation by itself due to the missing a lot of information. The structure of this essay flows step by step effectively. Following the each step, the author leads the reader into his purpose.

In Baxter’s essay, there are some clever devices to keep the reader thinking. He keeps on trying to communicate with the readers by asking to them. In his essay, “Where do you go, what do you do, if you can’t manage the printed information that we churn out? What becomes of you?” (p.142) these kinds of questions wait for the reader in somewhere. For the question, the author induces us to take part in his essay. It also helps us to understand his purpose. From this question, he gives idea to us how people can live in the information age as being human, if we would not handle it.

In the information age, Baxter’s essay seems to point the side effect of American society out. He indicates the development of technology makes people live in a flood of information, and makes us obtain needless information. People are swayed by the information with too much information. Nowadays, it is necessary we find the ways how to control information more effectively. As Baxter mentions the solution of it “All computers in the world cannot remedy it.,” (p. 157) information society cannot be recovered by itself. In order to do so, above all, people should know what information exactly they need. After that, the ability to distinguish the effective information would be required.

Assignment #1.1

It is not easy to find fresh water in the flood. In this situation, people might drink any water that is not supposed to be clean. Similarly, the development of technology makes people live in a flood of information, and makes us obtain needless information. In Charles Baxter’s essay “Shame and Forgetting in the Information Age,” he states the effects of a lots of information on our society in modern age. However, I think the most important point we should know in the current information age is that the relations of between the information and the human are reversed. In other words, people are swayed by the information with too much information. Nowadays, it is necessary we find the ways how to control information more effectively. In order to do so, above all, people should know what information exactly they need. After that, the ability to distinguish the effective information would be required. The absence of the capability would possibly give the ineffective information authorities too much.

The Quotation from Text:

“’Your memory’ can now in casual conversation refer to your computer’s memory rather than your own.” (P.145)

“Some information turns quickly into garbage. Bad information may well force out good, in a Gresham’s Law of data processing.” (P.146)

“Their lives and their authority depend upon their ability to remember, and to remember their subjects in public.” (P.144)

“Forgetting and shame might just serve, under the immediate surface of consciousness, as an escape route of sorts.” (P.150)

“All the computers in the world cannot remedy it.” (P.157)