de Castro, Krystel Iris M.

November 16, 2015

R27

A Paradoxical Reign

Technology pervades every aspect of life in the modern era, the setting of the short stories
Games and Document. It has become a powerful catalyst relational engagements, sparking
romance through the telephone and the computer. Noelle Q. De Jesus and Luis Joaquin M.
Katigbak, however, reveal how technology, despite being an asset in interpersonal connections,
may actually be a detriment within the context of intimate relationships. By identifying that the
narratives transpired in the digital age, readers will understand how the modernity of the setting
constitutes the characters.
Due to its prevalence, the media has revolutionized the societys perception of beauty
and has set the standards of an ideal woman. Doubting her own physical qualities, the
protagonist of Games fantasizes real women with sleek hair, curving bodies, linen suits and
high heels, with green eye shadow and mauve lipstick, with dimples or freckles or a tiny beauty
mark on the corner of her mouth. She used the visual anonymity to experiment with her identity
and pretended to carry the traits that she passed on to the names she invented.
Similarly, the protagonist of Document struggles in his diffidence and perplexes in the
status of his relationship with the girl. His landlady and his close friend assume that he is in love
with her, but he denies that it is not exactly true. His obscurantism may suggest his
subconscious affection for her but repudiates risking their friendship for a wrong move and

chooses to play safe. The girl, who has proven herself a master of the what-if scenario and is
probably aware of his perusals, consequently makes the first move through the word processor.
Low self-esteem and timidity hinder individuals to enter the dating scene but technology
allows them to test the waters a bit before jumping in. Comfort zones confined the characters and
inhibited them to establish commitments. The male protagonist toils in extracting meaning from
what he supposes are messages in disguise because they have a strange arrangement with
no official ties. The couple worries that a romantic involvement will encumber their careers;
hence, they lay in each others arms even without marital ties.
This apprehension, fused with the instant access provided by technology, blurred the
demarcation of protracted affairs. The urban generation rarely waits for anything, not even
wedding, to engage in sexual intercourse. This sense of urgency provokes distress in a delay in
the reply whereas a prompt response engenders comfort. A desire for instant gratification may
have impelled the woman to prefer voice calls over other modes of communication. Furthermore,
the always on feature of technology heightens the expectations of consistent and reciprocated
communication with the partners, which may rationalize the frequency of her calls.
On the other hand, misinterpretations may arise due to the absence facial expressions,
body language, mannerisms, and unique voice inflections that diminish ambiguity. Loss of
nonverbal cues, therefore, delegates the importance into verbal communication. When she
stopped astonished after mistaking her for Beth, he attempted to smooth out the tension by
calling her honey and spoke in lower tones, in the voice that was reserved for them, for her.
Nevertheless, she wondered at the sound of his voice even after exchanging words of
endearment.

Aside from the sound of a voice, documents also stir confusion. He wonders sometimes
about the nature of their relations and tries to read between the lines of her articles and essays.
Despite the fact that her files have been slowly accumulating on [his] data disks, he still strives
to decipher the meaning behind the words that once flickered across a computer monitor.
Endeavoring to uphold their relationship, the woman in Games always checks up on
him. Communication technologies give partners more ability to track each other, but these also
give more ability to stray. Individuals are tempted to behave in mischief thinking that it can be
easily concealed. She distrusts his boyfriend and tries to catch him with his reactions to every
name she gives when she calls. He has expertly hidden his ongoing connections with his exgirlfriend until he thoughtlessly misidentifies her with Beth. Instead of a usual Hello? that he
always said into the receiver after the hooting and teasing in the background had faded, he
simply said Hey, Hi there. Im glad you called. in a manner that denotes Beth was not a
name that he might have forgotten or not recognized. Technology brings out the ghosts of past
relationships and considering that only a soft breakup may have occurred between the two, it
definitely tempts him into infidelity.
In the face of discord, couples tend to hide behind technology and not completely
confront issues in the relationship. Instead of personally apologizing to her boyfriend, she resorts
to an impersonal phone call. She had been thinking that it was right to call him this way, in the
morning. It was right to take just two minutes to make it better, so they would feel wonderful
again and things could go back to the way they were.
The asynchronous nature of computer-mediated communication allows for delayed and
calculated responses but it may be a barrier for the developmental process that would have
happened offline. For instance, she always calls in the office but a glimpse into their

conversation when they are physically together exposes the limited exchange of ideas between
them. The reader may infer that the discomfort of talking vis--vis in contrast to all the lines
that were running in her head in their phone conversation. She also refuses to disclose to her
boyfriend certain thoughts, such as her dislike of A friend, more his than hers and her intention
in staging different names.
Somehow, the characters seem to be detached from each other. Even after the ups and
downs, he never once said her name. For a woman who yielded significance to a name,
neglecting hers made her feel insubstantial, the same way the girl in the unfinished story in
Document disappeared. She comes and goes, only scratching the surface of his life given his
faintheartedness to deepen the relationship. He has learned that actual printouts are a more
reliable way of storing written material yet he never printed out any of her material.
Constantly saving to disk is a way of reassuring oneself: yes, yes, its there, Ive got it.
This imparts a false sense of security. The readers recognize that the relationships suffer from
instability and will proceed to the inevitable demise because of the internal insecurities that the
characters endure. Technologys power to alter the perspectives of the characters is symptomatic
of its supremacy in the society, a predicament best dramatized by the appropriate setting the
modern times.