Analysis Of Kevin Brockmeier's The Year Of Silence

Silence — the sound of quiet, the state of mind, the lack of meaning — all these pertain to its definition. Communication is expanding, noise is increasing, music is becoming more obtainable as people search desperately for a moment of peace or a breeze of silence. As the scarcity of physical silence increases, its value as a rare commodity increases as well. The idiom “Silence is golden” may perhaps only grow closer to reality as time passes, as exemplified by the white noise machines or silent fans entering the market and fictionalized in Kevin Brockmeier’s short story, “The Year of Silence.” In light of this, Brockmeier explores the value of silence and noise in his story without putting one above the other. Through strange clues and hidden

Although the silence had no tangible effect in the beginning, it permeated the thoughts of the citizens as the length of the silences grew. When people realized the calming effects of the silence, reliance upon it grew, ultimately creating a political movement in which silence became effectively mandatory. The obsession with silence grew, until noise gained value through scarcity, turning the obsession towards itself. Intervals of noise replaced the intervals of silence, growing in length each time as well. Over time, noise became the major melody of time again, and the silence was all but forgotten in the din of life. Yet in the pattern and intervals of silence and noise, a cryptographer finds a message in morse code, “LISTENWELL” (Brockmeier

In the silent era of Brockmeier’s city, individuals grew into a lethargic existence, “The drunks in the bars turned amiable and mild. The jails were unusually tranquil...The great roar of the city had stopped, [the birds in cockfights] becoming as useless as pigeons, virtually impossible to provoke to violence” (Brockmeier 53). Indeed, “The silence was beneficial for us” as suggested by modern science, but people began to remember what they lost: “the fire, the vigor, that came with a lack of ease” (Brockmeier 61). To be more concise, this fire and vigor came with the difficulty and the thrill of the chase, “Our lives seemed no less purposeful than they had during the silence, but it was as if that purpose were waiting several corners away from us now, rather than hovering in front of our eyes” (Brockmeier 62). Of course, while Brockmeier is merely describing these traits as a benefit or asset of silence or noise respectively, it could be applied with relevancy to the state of the individual. Meditation is only gaining popularity while “low-noise” becomes a commodity sought after; however, perhaps in the hunt of silence, individuals often neglect to learn the ability to thrive in dissonance. While Brockmeier reminds us of the