The Contrary Heart
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William Faulkner said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “…the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself […] alone can make great writing…” It’s a profound and powerful claim. As writers, we might fully embrace Faulkner’s idea while wondering, How, exactly, do I portray the human heart in conflict with itself?
In some of my workshops I ask students to identify what their character wants most and write in detail about that desire. Then I ask them to write about their character wanting the opposite. Finally, I ask them to write a scene in which the character feels both desires simultaneously and is forced to contend with that dissonance. A memorable student example: A woman loves a sheep so much she wants to marry it. At the same time, she’s craving mutton and wants to eat the sheep. What will she do?
Plenty of latitude exists in interpreting and expressing contradictory desires. In an essay about your aunt’s career as a pioneering data scientist with the Department of Defense, for example, you might also write about her participation in anti-war protests. Or how she felt about sacrificing her family for her job in a time when that was atypical.
Skillfully portraying the contrary heart gives your narrative not only tension but also believability, depth, interest, and impact. And it can be achieved in many ways, whether direct—marry the sheep or eat it?—or subtle.
In addition to the exercise mentioned above, another way to explore the contrary heart in your piece is by calibrating your polarities*. Polarities are coupled, opposing ideas that arise as you write. For example, youth versus age, heat versus cold, betrayal versus fidelity.
To find the polarities in your draft, first reread your work and identify the significant, recurring ideas. They might appear in actions, dialogue, images, thoughts, or impulses. In a memoir about a gambling addiction, for instance, risk will likely be a prominent idea.
Then draw a diagram that looks like a hub with spokes. Write each significant idea on one end of a spoke. Write the idea’s opposite at the spoke’s other end to make a diametric pair. If one end is labeled “risk,” the other end could be “certainty.”
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After you’ve identified at least three pairs of opposing ideas, reread your piece and assess the strength of each idea and how frequently it arises.
Check the balance of each pair. For example, if your memoir contains many compelling instances of betrayal, you might want to add more references to fidelity—past or present, actual or imagined. Keep going around the circle until each pair is weighted in the direction that suits your purposes. If an idea's opposite is missing, the narrative will seem one-sided. Readers might find it unbelievable or insincere. On the other hand, if each polarity is perfectly balanced, your piece might lack drama.
Further, consider how polarities complement each other. In a coming-of-age novel, pairs might include callowness versus wisdom, rebellion versus acceptance, and novice versus expert. If you find a prominent idea or pair that doesn’t fit with the others, you might have revealed an aspect of your narrative that can be cut.
If you’re still seeking your theme, a polarities diagram could help you find it. What do the pairs, combined, suggest? To complete the diagram, write the theme(s) indicated by the polarities in the central hub.
As a former engineer raised in a family of scientists, I admit that I find comfort in practical tools such as analysis and diagramming. But even if this exercise of calibrating polarities strikes you as too calculating, I urge you to try it. Like imposing rhyming or metric patterns on a poem, applying a framework to your narrative elements can let loose your intuition and imagination. This apparent contradiction—like the human heart in conflict with itself—leads to surprising riches.
* I encountered the concept of polarities in a craft essay by author Antonya Nelson. But I can no longer find the essay, and it’s been so long since I read it that I don’t know how much was her idea and how much I’ve modified it.