Perspectives

This part of the study guide will help you put Helen Cooper’s short story “Pretending to Know the Words” in perspective by looking at current issues, literary period, and similar works.

Current issues

Published in 2014, the short story takes place in a contemporary context and explores issues related to depression, identity, and possible unintended consequences of achieving success. The story makes us reflect on how, after constantly striving and making sacrifices to achieve success, one might not feel happy or satisfied.

...

Literary period

The short story is a postmodernist text. Postmodernism is a literary movement that developed in the last 70 years as a reaction to Modernism and World War II. The fact that this movement spans over such a long period of time implies that it is very diverse in terms of themes and literary features.

“Pretending to Know the Words” is postmodernist through its...

...

Works with the same theme

For the theme of identity, we encourage you to compare Helen Cooper’s short story with texts like “Debbie and Julie” by Doris Lessing and “Ice Cream” by Helen Dunmore, and “England versus England” by Doris Lessing.

“Debbie and Julie” (Now& Zen, p. 89) follows a teenage girl who runs away from home after getting pregnant and finds a friend and a protector in a prostitute.

...