Unknown Unknowns by Vauhini Vara, 2020
The magic trick:
Using a nonlinear story structure to make a clear point about the modern world
A second Vauhini Vara story for your weekend. This one consists of five short segments, nonlinear but tied together by a kind of topic handoff relay race thing.
The narrator is talking about things her 4-year-old son says and thinks. She mixes in current events – Elon Musk and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, for instance. The combination of a young child’s views on the world and the more typically adult worries leaves the reader feeling like we’re all essentially 4-year-old children when it comes to what we know and can control.
And that’s quite a trick on Vara’s part.
The selection:
There are known knowns, as Donald Rumsfeld said; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns, as he said; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know.
Short Story Magic Tricks 