Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell reflects the idea of “double consciousness” through the mind of a character, Helen’s adoptive brother, who commits suicide. The preoccupation is not revealed until the family finds the diary coping with the experiences he has confronted before and after he sets the meeting to meet his biological mother in Korea, and afterward, it leads to the suicide. Cottrell describes the scene where Helen’s brother talks about “double consciousness” and how terrified he is through the descriptive details and the journal style of writing. The narrative style arouses the reader’s interest and the sense of being the witness while collecting the pieces of evidence along with Helen. The scene starts with the brother …show more content…
In the passage, Helen’s brother talks to the reader through a journal which both describes the situation he has confronted and his feelings about what has happened. He uses “I” as a narrator in the story which is himself and the style of writing is familiar with the way people telling someone stories; it directs to the reader. For example, he writes “And now comes the part you probably won’t believe, but… I didn’t go to the meeting.” The reader can feel that the message is sent directly to whoever read it; he suddenly wants to approach to whoever read his diary. As the reader knows since the beginning, Helen tries to find the reason why her brother commits suicide, so the narrative style can pull us into the detective mode in the same way as Helen. Besides, the sharing information between the character and the reader creates the effect to the reader’s perception when they investigate the case with Helen. According to the style, he might want the reader to feel the way he feels, to recognize what he has been through, and to create us the shocking feeling that he eventually does not meet his biological mother as he plans. Furthermore, a hesitation he creates by using dots to make a suspense actually build and intensify our feeling to become a witness of the story, and the doubt of what lies ahead of him makes the story enthralling and