Come check out my interpretation of Wolf in White Van as a story of the recovery of Sean from depression using Trace Italian as a medium for recovery. In it I discuss Trace Italian as a healing device for Sean because of how it connects him to other people and gives him motivation to live. Click Here to view the essay. Enjoy!
Credit Pedro Ribeiro
Wolf in White Van, a novel by John Darnielle, is all about Sean, a character who, after a traumatic experience, uses gaming as a way to cope with his trauma. While writing this essay, I got the chance to put in practice my “critical thinking and reading resulting in writing skills“. I used pieces from the this text to talk about trauma and how to cope with it. Also, I was able to work on the “rhetorical composition” of essays. Throughout this course, we’ve been exercising our skills to different kinds of texts: podcasts, live blogs, and, with this assignment, I was able to further improve my essay writing skills. Click here to learn more about trauma and how it is evident in Wolf in White Van.
In this essay, I talk about how games help people to cope with something in their lives, whether it’s stress, trauma, or anything else really. Games let you become someone completely new, which allows you to take your mind off of the weight of life and let you be free for a moment or longer.
The learning outcome for the class that I used the most was writing as a process. I made a draft of the essay, revised it, and kept tweaking it until I saw fit.
How can an unexplainable be perceived in novel? What constitutes trauma in gaming? On my latest page I explore this idea of trauma in John Darnielle’s novel The Wolf in White Van. I discuss the narrative style and the common theme of detachment in order to explore how trauma is used effectively in novels. I also briefly discuss how this novel particularly is similar to other games we have played over the semester. To view the essay click here.
Sean Phillips vicariously lives in a world that does not exist. As concerning as that might sound, those who have read John Darnielle’s novel, Wolf in White Van, may understand that there is no other way for Sean to deal with his life-changing accident. The only thing that keeps Sean’s head above water is his first play-by-mail roleplaying game, Trace Italian. Sean’s life provides a glimpse into how coping with traumatic experiences comes in far ranging forms and that is exactly what Darnielle tries to portray in this dark convoluted story.
As this chronologically confusing but impactful novel unfolds, one can immediately sense that Sean is unlike most teenage boys. Besides the fact that he purposely shot himself in the face with a rifle, Sean also emits characteristics of an introvert. This may explain Sean’s incredible knack for creativity, which eventually leads to his own interpretation of recovery. But at times for Sean, being an introvert leads to a tendency to internalize everything. For instance, during a session with a therapist, Sean revealed that he had to lie to his only living grandmother about his incident. To the therapist, this wasn’t much of a concern because she was looking for other troubles while Sean was not. He goes on to say “It gets to the point where you almost want to make something up just to keep them happy, to keep from being the person who makes them feel like they’re wasting their time” (116). Sean seems to be deeply rooted in pleasing others but this in turn hurts him as well.
Another example of this internalizing habit occurs when Sean is introduced to his father’s friend, the owner of a gun store. Instead of speaking up and explaining that he understands the power of guns and the potential consequences of misusing them, Sean merely stands there and nods his head. “Ray carried on for a minute about the power of guns, and the costs of not revering that power; after a while I stopped listening” (120). Even though Sean has good intentions of listening to, albeit obvious advice from an older man, the fact that he does not speak up and defend himself reveals an insecurity Sean chooses to ignore.
Despite his lack of self-confidence, which undoubtedly stems from his facial disfiguration and apparent social disparity, Sean finds an avenue through which he can finally find peace: Trace Italian. To his parents, Sean’s “old school” creation seems like just a hobby and perhaps a way to distract himself from the world around him, but there are deeper implications of his gaming pursuit. To some degree, the Trace provides a space for Sean to re-immerse himself back into society. Although he does not physically interact with his players, Sean feels as if he becomes a part of their lives and to Sean, any social interaction without hearing gasps about his face is better than none at all. Another crucial interpretation of the Trace is that it serves as an ideal escape from reality. Sean doesn’t realize this until he is unable to tell the difference between reality and the Trace because he enjoys being immersed in a world where he is fully in control for once. Who wouldn’t like that?
Roger Luckhurst, in his book The Trauma Question, states that “if trauma is a crisis in representation, then this generates narrative possibility just as much as impossibility, a compulsive outpouring of attempts to formulate narrative knowledge.” This “compulsive outpouring” essentially defines what Sean does when he goes on extremely creative rants about things he labels as ordinary. For example, when Sean revisited the cabinet that held all of his medication and sniffed one of the bottles, he remembered “stories I’d told myself to make taking it less numbing, to give not just meaning but intrigue to my dull condition” (98). It is really fascinating how in depth Sean goes when describing the stories tied to not one, but all of his medication.
In the same fashion, when describing how Kimmy dug through her purse to find a Rush music tape, Sean immediately started to create a narrative of it:
“To me it sounded like somebody shaking up dry bones. I closed my eyes and thought about those old bones in some girl’s purse and then I let my mind go…” (188). To some extent, creating these narratives provided comfort for Sean but that was not enough to cope. Sean recalls making a promise to himself “I didn’t promise myself future success or total recovery. Just escape” (100). In the end, Sean’s creative mind could only be embodied by the Trace Italian where only he would find solace and hopefully provide that same peace for others.
In a world where society shuns those who do not “look” the same as others because of physical disfiguration, Sean Phillips desperately searches for something to ease his physical and emotional pain. What he does not realize is that the creation of Trace Italian becomes more meaningful to him than he expected. Through immersing himself in the Trace, not only does Sean gradually stop internalizing his thoughts, but also sees the world through a more creative lens. No one can truly understand how various coping methods affect individuals and in that sense Darnielle provides significant insight on Sean’s unique ability to find a solution through games.
Works Cited:
Darnielle, John. Wolf in White Van, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014. Print.
Luckhurst, Roger. The Trauma Question, London: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle presents an additional unique method of coping with trauma: escapism through games. This novel suggests that through games, people can escape into a world where they are psychologically and emotionally sheltered from the repercussions of their trauma. This safety allows individuals to heal and recover from their wounds in an alternative reality. Click here to find out more.
My co-producer and I first read the Bogost chapter on Transit before we started anything in the podcast. Since I was the only one who had actually played the game, we decided that he would ask most of the questions about the game and I would describe it in detail. He would lead the incorporation of the Bogost term, and then we would have him play the game on a live feed. We kept our format similar to previous podcasts because we split it into introducing the game, how it relates to the bogost term, and finished with gameplay.
The goal of our podcast was to show that Skyrim uses transit in a way that allows the player to explore as much as they want. It is a very large game and there are thousands of places to travel to and things to see in the world. It was difficult to talk about what you can see while exploring, but the gameplay enlightened it a little. If we had more time, we would have included more gameplay so that the listener could experience more of the world than just the three minutes that we included.
The learning outcome that was utilized most for us in this assignment was collaboration. I collaborated with a partner for the entirety of this project until it was finished. We bounced idea off of each other until we could get information and ideas to fit withing the podcast.
I learned form this assignment that I need to be well prepared for when I have to speak, even if it’s just into a mic and not a classroom. I also learned that it is more efficient to do a project from start to finish without taking long periods of time to take a break in between. However, I would not recommend procrastinating to do it though.
I found that our second podcast did not trouble us as much as the first episode. This is most likely due to the knowledge we gained from our first experience. This time around, Ross and I knew what to expect and we readily prepared ourselves for the challenge. In this episode, we talk about how Mario Kart 8 can be a game for all ages, not just kids. We explored the various aspects of this game that not only appealed to the younger generation, but those of older generations as well. The chapter we decided to relate this game to was kitsch.
After reviewing the chapter in a similar fashion to the first podcast, Ross and I realized that this game was the definition of a kitsch game. All the traits of a kitsch game fit most aspects of the exciting, easy-to-play Mario Kart perfectly. What we did differently this time was that we dove right into creating a script. Compared to the procedure of our first podcast, we were way ahead in terms of preparation. Not to mention, we started prepping for this podcast a week before it was due. This extra time gave us room to think more creatively and critically about what exactly we wanted to get across to listeners. I think the fact that we had to relate a chapter of Ian Bogost’s book to this game made us appreciate the learning outcome, critical thinking and reading resulting in writing. Through analyzing information across multiple modes of learning, I came away with insights about which mode is more effective in explaining certain topics and how everything can be related.
One major change we integrated into this process was making an appointment with Professor Morgen. This helped immensely and we both regretted not scheduling a meeting with the professor for the first podcast. During this meeting, we fleshed out significant points that we needed to make sure to touch upon in our podcast. This initially gave us our overall conception of how this podcast was going to be structured.
This entire experience left a solid impression on me in terms of the variety of ways one can use to explore literary works. To be honest, I might prefer making podcasts to writing essays now..
For our first podcast, Ross and I decided to go with Madden Ultimate Team 17 as our game of choice and tried relating the themes in Ian Bogost’s chapter on Habituation to those in Madden. We believed that this game was more than a typical sports game void of any meaning and that is exactly what we aimed to disprove.
Before we even began planning the structure of our podcast, we thought it was prudent to read the chapter thoroughly on our own so that we were comfortable with what we were working with. I created a Google document and shared my notes on the chapter with Ross. By cross-examining our notes and seeing which points we both highlighted or did not highlight, Ross and I were able to separate the main ideas from the specific points each of us thought were significant. This initial step was probably the most crucial one in terms of gaining confidence about the material at hand and moving forward to integrate them.
I volunteered to take charge of this podcast and Ross agreed to switch roles with me for the next one. I suggested that we go straight into recording just by looking off our notes in order to try and create a less scripted sounding atmosphere, something we originally wanted to execute. This quickly became a problem. Although this plan seemed great in theory, we realized it was in fact harder than we thought and we deemed this method unrealistic. So, we agreed on writing a script together to follow as a guideline and to keep the podcast going in the right direction.
Unfortunately, our script once again sounded very scripted and Ross and I had to figure out a solution to overcome this obstacle. What we ended up doing was revising the script in a more colloquial manner, something we would not have done for a formal essay. We hoped that writing like we speak would solve this issue but as a result, our podcast still sounded scripted to a certain point. In light of these events, I came to a conclusion that writing is a process. This learning outcome could not have related any better to our project because we tried a number of different ways to structure this podcast with each effort improving the overall quality of our work.
I think our willingness to attempt multiple modes of structuring this podcast really speaks to the learning outcome of collaboration. Ross and I worked tirelessly to ensure both our ideas were included and collaborated when it came to make decisions that would have altered this podcast entirely.
This was a great first experience in creating something I have never done before. I hope that our second attempt at making a podcast will be much smoother compared to this rocky journey.
I feel much better about this podcast than my first one, and I definitely think having experience helped tremendously. Our goal for this podcast was to show that Mario Kart 8 wasn’t just for kids. We were aware that it had quite a diverse fanbase and we wanted to examine and relay to the listener why the game attracts so many different people.
One of the key differences was that this go around we started a week before the assignment was due, and this made the entire process much less stressful, and gave us more time to fully flesh out everything we wanted to say. Also, while we met with the professor the first go around it wasn’t really an official meeting, but rather a quick conversation after class. This time Justin and I scheduled a sit down appointment which helped us narrow down what to talk about, and figure out the best questions that would prompt interesting analysis.
The hardest part was the live gameplay aspect. Justin and I had two friends play and we didn’t want to tell them any points to hit on because we wanted it to sound natural, but as a result it seems like they tried to say what they thought we would have wanted them to say instead of saying their genuine thoughts. This part of the podcast is always the hardest for me because in a way you are giving up control.
Once again I think the project required a lot of collaboration because obviously this was a group project. Justin and I always meet up with different ideas, and we use our differences as a way to build off of each other’s thoughts. Also, there was critical thinking and reading resulting in writing. One of the main components of the project is to relate one of Ian Bogost’s chapters from “How To Do Things With Video Games” and relate it to your game.
