8 | The Writer • April 2020
FROM THE FRONT LINES
BY YI SHUN LAI
myself of the one-dimensional charac-
ters I sometimes read in fiction. These
are the characters who behave as we
believe they should behave. These are
the ones who conform to every stereo-
type, so that we’re bored by the very
act of getting to know them. These are
the ones who, even in minor roles, irk
us with their predictability.
And yet – they are the ones that are
easiest to write. So how do we avoid
peppering our plots with them? We
can draw once again from the world of
sociology to help us.
•••A few months ago, I wrote about The
Person You Mean to Be: How Good Peo-
ple Fight Bias. In it, author Dolly Chugh
talks to us about unconscious bias, andabout the various ways it can impinge
on our drive to do good in this world.
Chugh tells a story about Kimberly
Davis, a black female executive who
attended a networking event for female
executives, only to be ignored at every
conversational circle she tried to join.
One explanation for this, Chugh pos-
its, is bounded awareness: We do not
see what we do not expect to see.
Davis’s colleagues didn’t see her
because they weren’t “ready” to see a
black female executive in the room.
They were more likely to see her as
support staff, perhaps. Or a waiter.
I’ve been thinking about this exam-
ple for a lot of reasons, but I can also
see it helping to improve our writing.
People fall prey to unconscious when
their point of view takes over, whichObjects in Mirror are Closer
Than They Appear
Make blind spots work for you.
I
grew up in Southern California,
where cars are king. Our traffic
problems are the stuff of legend
because of it; the very air smog
we breathe is proof of it. When I moved
to New York City after graduation from
college, though, it became obvious to
me that mass transit was the way to go.
I took the subway, mostly, but I loved
the bus, too – I liked being above
ground, passing all those lovely neigh-
borhoods and flying through Central
Park even when cars weren’t allowed on
the main drive. Articulated buses are
my favorite – I enjoy the idea of being
two places on a city corner at once.
When I moved to Chicago, it was much
the same. I was happy to take either the
El or the bus, anywhere in Chicago.
But I’m back in Southern California
now, after having spent my formative
adult years in major metropolises, and
I find myself bemoaning the lack of the
public transit system – and then hating
what we do have, for its inefficiencies.
An acquaintance heard me bashing the
SoCal mass transit. She reminded me
that, for many people, mass transit is
the only way to get around. That with-
out it, they can’t get to work.
Of course I was ashamed of myself,
for having not seen that, especially
since I only learned about economic
diversity from living in Chicago and in
New York. And yet – of course I would
have this blind spot: Having only ever
seen mass transit as a wonderful con-
venience, I was incapable of seeing it as
a necessity. My blind spot had turned
me one-dimensional, and I reminded Kaylinka/Shutterstock