#defamiliarisation

The science fiction genre is particularly interesting to analyse when we think about imagined worlds. Samuel R. Delany, the author of the science fiction novel Trouble on Triton, has stated that “…science fiction is not about the future. It works by setting up a dialogue with the here-and-now…”. Here, Delany captures the true power of imagined worlds which is their ability to represent our contemporary reality within their fictional recreations.

A great example of a science fiction text is Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life, the short story that inspired the major Hollywood film Arrival. The world presented in Chiang’s text seems familiar in every way…except the world has suddenly been invaded by aliens. Yet, the most curious thing about this text is that it’s not really about the aliens. It’s about us. Through the clever manipulation of language and literary techniques, the text creates defamiliarisation and as such reveals ourselves to us.

An Introduction to Ted Chiang’s imagined world

In Chiang’s short story giant alien devices, called ‘looking glasses’, land in various places on Earth. The looking glasses act as a two-way communication system between humans and aliens. Dr. Louis Banks, a linguist, communicates with the aliens through a looking glass to decipher their language.

We soon discover that the alien’s written language is not sequential like our own, instead they write in cyclic patterns. To read this language you must read an entire sentence simultaneously as there is no start or finish to their sentences.

As banks begins to learn the alien language, a very strange thing starts to happen…she starts to think in a non-linear fashion. By learning to read and think in a language which is non-sequential, Banks begins to experience her past, present and future instantaneously. This concept is based on a real linguistic theory known as the Sapir-Whorf theory.

The Sapir-what theory?

The Sapir-Whorf theory states that language does not just communicate our thoughts: it creates them. There are two variations of this theory. The weak version proclaims that our language merely influences our thoughts whilst the strong version asserts that all thoughts are determined by language.

Many criticise Chiang’s story (and the movie adaptation Arrival) for taking the Sapir-Whorf theory to an extreme that is too unrealistic.

Yet I think it’s irrelevant whether Chiang’s story is realistic or not because it’s an imagined world. And the true power of imagined worlds are their ability to reflect a variation of our reality back to us and give us new insights. They don’t need to be realistic, they just have to produce meaning.

So what can be learned from analysing Story of your life?

Story of your life shows that learning an alien language can synthesise new understandings about human language and communication.

Chiang makes use of literary techniques to manipulate the emotions and thoughts of his reader. Juxtaposition is used throughout the entire text to intersect past events with future events. This technique is brilliant for several reasons.

Juxtaposition reproduces an effect of time travel

Firstly, the constant interception of contrasting time periods reproduces the simultaneous method of awareness that Banks acquires from learning the alien language.

The story is narrated by banks, but it’s done so in disjointed parts. There is the chronological narrative of Banks learning the alien language but then there is also another narrative, which occurs in the future in which Banks is raising her daughter. This means that the readers get to experience the past and future all at once.

The interception of different time sequences brings the Sapir-Whorf theory to life by replicating how it would feel to have our cognitive awareness alter due to language acquisition.

Furthermore, by presenting reality in this time-skewed way, a process of defamiliarisation occurs. As literary critic Victor Shklovsky has said, the defamiliarisation that Chiang creates, through reproducing the Sapir-Whorf theory, allows him to “….remove the automatism of perception…”. This means that reader’s perceptions can be challenged and altered due to being shown a new viewpoint.

Juxtaposition requires readers to connect events to divulge meaning

Secondly, the constant interruption of different time periods achieves a similar result as a film editing technique called the Kuleshov effect. This effect refers to how people will automatically find connections between two sequential shots and derive meaning from their juxtaposition. The contrast of time events in Story of your life also compels the reader to draw out the similarities and connections between narrative events that may not have been as clearly identifiable without juxtaposition. Hence, Chiang’s text acts as a literary version of the Kuleshov effect.

We see Banks learning the alien language alongside her daughter growing up and learning the nuances of human language. When Banks first begins to attempt communication with the aliens, she has to work hard to ensure the aliens weren’t responding to her questions with ‘aren’t the humans cute’. This situation is juxtaposed by Banks daughter coming home from school and asking her mum if she “can…be made of honour?” because her friend got to be maid of honour at her sister’s wedding.

The juxtaposition between these two situations generates a language-learning anecdote. By contrasting a child’s language acquisition to the alien language acquisition, readers are coerced to find the connections between these two experiences. The contrast between alien and human child language acquisition highlights how even slight communicative misunderstandings can hinder comprehension.

Ultimately, juxtaposition enables a focus on human connection

This leads me to my final argument: the effect of juxtaposition in the text firmly establishes it’s focus on humanity. Both the reproduction of time travel and the literary Kuleshov effect draw attention to language. More specifically, they draw attention to communication and how this facilitated the parent-child relationship between Banks and her daughter.

Through juxtaposition, the relationships between human characters are propelled to the forefront whilst the alien invasion narrative is increasingly portrayed as a backdrop. The time travel effect allows for the text to interweave Banks personal family history and future events with her daughter into the alien narrative. The literary Kuleshov effect highlights that the true focus of the text is Banks’ daughter because every time the readers discover how important language and perception is when communicating with the aliens, these moments are juxtaposed by Bank’s daughter learning how to communicate with her parents and friends as she grows up. Hence, the alien narrative mainly performs as an analogy for how crucial communication is within human relationships.

The lesson to be learnt

Chiang’s story actively engages the audience by allowing readers to experience the same time travelling ability as the main character which intensifies the defamiliarisation between reality and fiction.

As a result, the exciting alien plot is long forgotten, and in its place is an appreciation for how central language is to our own lives. The reader recognises how language functions in the story and as such can apply this new perspective towards their own world. The text highlights that language has a real, tangible power over our lives.