Blog 8

In the narrative essay “Land of Darkness” (2017), Suki Kim argues that fear can be overcome if you put your mind into it. In this essay, Kim narrates what was like for her to be an undercover writer in North Korea, and how this experience helped her to be more fearless; even though she spent every second terrified about the thought of getting caught by the government. The author’s purpose for this essay was to provide an example with her own life experiences of how some fears can hold us back, in order to motivate people to fight theirs. The intended audience of this work are all the people that have experience some type of fear in their lives and are in need of motivation to overcome them.

What is useful from this writing would be that the author is discussing about fears and how to handle them. Kim’s form of writing is full of suspense and wonder; it keeps the audience focused and inquisitive as to what will happen next. She has a way of keeping us on our toes and that is something that is useful when it comes to how we can write. She tends to put emphasis on the way others have viewed her time trapped within North Korea as a form of being brave, which she completely is, but it is clear that she has been living in her own world of fear from the very beginning, even before this. She gives access to brief stories and small experiences while there and the things she did to make sure she was able to keep herself safe. Kim does this in a way that doesn’t expose too much and still offers the audience a feeling of fascination and completely captivated, all the while being intrigued by her discoveries and the risk being taken. She has a way of creating a thought-provoking atmosphere without being offensive in any way. Being thorough and descriptive, while creating clarity and affirmation to ones wrong assumptions surrounding certain things. These are the types of constructive patterns that would be effective in our writings.