Pretending to Know the Words by Helen Cooper 2014

Pretending to Know the Words

Even though the postmodern society has reduced a large part of the world’s most life threading problems, new issues are beginning to occur. A lot of people nowadays find themselves struggling with post-materialistic problems such as depression or loneliness. Despite the fact that they are living well, many still struggle to find a way of fitting into society.

Similar conditions are shown in the short story, “Pretending to Know the Words” written by Helen Cooper in 2014.

The story centers around the two main characters, Luis and Recoba. Luis, who is suicidal and suffers from depression, finds himself struggling in his home on his couch watching a football match. He is especially focused on the player known as Recoba who fills him with anger and envy as he scores the finale goal making his team win the game. Recoba, on the other hand, is not happy about his achievement, and only his team mate, Summerfield notices this. But despite his depression, Recoba joins the team on their celebration tour. Soon after, Luis wakes up in a hospital bed after having lined up painkillers back in his home. Summerfield is standing by his side telling him that he knows about his depression, and by that it is revealed that Luis and Recoba are the same person.

The order of the story is not typically chronological as the plot is filled with flashbacks between Luis and Reboca. Because of this, the story is told by a third person objective narrator since the reader gets to know the thoughts and surroundings of the two main characters. This creates the illusion of the story being told by two persons instead of one as it is revealed in the end, and at the same time it also shows two different perspectives of depression without the reader knowing.

The way of narrating is essential in order to understand the ending plot twist. Especially in the flash backs where the story becomes a puzzle of connecting the two storylines. This is because the considerable hints that reveal that Luis and Recoba are the same person have to combined. The clues are namely only shown separately in each of the two character’s timelines. In this way, the reader has to navigate between two surroundings forming the contrast of Luis Recoba’s past and present life.

This parallel plays an important part of the story since it splits the main character into two different people. Luis, on one side, living poorly and scanty on his couch while considering suicide as the only way out of his miserable life. The only person he cares about is his mother whom he misses as it is shown in his made-up dialogue: “He imagined phoning his mother, all those miles away, and saying something strange. Something like, this giant house hates me. She would say, don’t talk crazy. Has that English air sent you mad? He would say, my feet are cold on the glossy floorboards.”