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Julia Cho’s The Language Archive is a story about a man on a mission to collect artifacts from every language before they die. In the midst of a failed marriage, he encounters a couple who seem to desperately and openly hate each other, feeding his despondency for the world. However, The Language Archive is not a story about hatred, failings in life, or even about language. It is about love and the many mysterious forms it takes. These forms are explored through the relationships explored in the play. Specifically, the relationships between George and Mary, a married couple whose rocky relationship is just past the tipping point of being salvaged; Resten and Alta, an old married couple who fights like…well, an old married couple; and George and Emma, partners in pursuit of capturing rare languages, but Emma loves George and George is abhorrently clueless to this fact and emotionally constipated nonetheless. However, despite the many problems that exist in these relationships, they all speak volumes about the love within them, even if that love isn’t shown on the surface.

George and Mary’s notions of love are twisted at best. With George too in love with his work to be emotionally available to anyone else, and Mary with her own alleged emotional struggles, it’s no wonder that they didn’t work. The most heartbreaking thing however, is Mary’s admission that she could never understand George’s language (49). The one thing that gave George a passion in life is the same thing that drove his wife away, even when he used it to try to save her.

On the other hand, George’s languages are what Emma used to get George’s attention (47), but ended up not working for her anyway. The reason it didn’t work was the same reason George couldn’t keep his relationship with his wife: he is too invested in words to find the right ones for the situation he is in.

Resten and Alta represent a side of George and Mary’s marriage that could have come to be had they not separated. Fighting constantly over little things that end up in an irreversible curse in which they do not speak to each other at all (18).

While all of these relationships have issues, they all represent a side of love that isn’t commonly focused on in traditional literature. Resten and Alta have a love that is all about forgiveness and the power of honesty. This is shown in the scene in the hospital when they reveal that the “irreversible curse” is not valid because it was spoken in English. At a time of need when their relationship was put to the test, they came together and forgave each other because they knew that their “time was small.” I think their relationship was the most functional of all because they had the capacity to forgive and be honest with their feelings; a skill that many people think they have, but are never able to put it into action when it counts.

Emma’s relationship with George is entirely one-sided, but it is telling of a relationship that is giving without any expectation of reciprocation. They are able to remain friends even with Emma’s crippling and almost debilitating love for George. What’s even more important to note that Emma got out. When it became too much for her to handle, she left for a while and tried to forget about George because she knew it wasn’t healthy for her to perseverate on something that would never come to be. This is extremely significant because it shows that Emma has a vast amount of respect and love for herself. Loving yourself is just as important than loving someone else.

George and Mary’s relationship is harder to analyze. That’s because their relationship was the hardest to let go of. For both of them. One some level, both of them knew that it was time for the relationship to end, even if George denied it wholeheartedly. They both took the time to go back and realize what it was that made them love each other in the first place. George equated it with the only thing he knew, words. Mary said that wasn’t enough and George didn’t know “How these things worked” (23). George and Mary’s kind of love is a failed love. A failed love is just as significant in the grand scheme of types of loves because a failed love does something that a successful love cannot. It gives you the opportunity to start over. Even if George doesn’t take this opportunity, which is a huge fault in his own character, Mary does. Mary becomes a baker and finds herself and learns to love herself again and be happy. And that is really all that love boils down to: Being happy.

References

Cho, Julia. The Language Archive. New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc., 2012. Play.

Silvestri, Lauren. Language Archive takes Fred Stone. 23 October 2013. Web. 7 March 2016.