The Cost of Knowing

In The Cost of Knowing, Brittney Morris utilizes the genre of magical realism to explore the experiences of young Black men in 21st-century America. Magical realism is a “chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction” (“Magic Realism.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Jul. 2023). Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier coined the term in the 1940s. Iconic examples of magical realism literature include Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Jorge Luis Borges’s Fictions, and Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits. While the genre originated in Latin-American literature, examples can be found across cultures and historical eras.

Morris’s novel demonstrates several key traits of magical realism. First, she places impossible and fantastic events in an otherwise realistic narrative. While Alex possesses psychic powers, his life in 21st-century Chicago is otherwise typical for a teenager. He juggles work, family obligations, and relationship drama between experiencing visions of the future.

Second, the novel uses fantasy as an extended metaphor. Alex’s visions serve as a metaphor for the anxiety experienced by young Black men. They manifest in ways that intentionally parallel the physical and physiological symptoms of anxiety, such as feelings of dread and an accelerated heart rate. Third, magical realism literature often incorporates mythical elements. In Morris’s novel, the protagonist’s ancestor received psychic abilities from an orisha, a nature spirit from the Yoruba religion of West Africa.

Fourth, many works of magical realism present political critiques: “Some scholars have posited that magic realism is a natural outcome of postcolonial writing, which must make sense of at least two separate realities—the reality of the conquerors as well as that of the conquered” (“Magic Realism.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Jul. 2023). Similarly, The Cost of Knowing examines the effects of oppression and the ways that the Black protagonist’s experience of the world differs from that of white people. The novel explores several issues connected to racism, including police brutality, white fragility, and the disproportionate incarceration of Black people. In The Cost of Knowing, Brittney Morris continues a cross-cultural literary tradition of using magical elements to examine real-world problems.