When approached with the idea of speaking openly to the opposite sex about what really vex’s us the most about them, I don’t think one person in our class was indifferent. Anticipating the session and thrilled to spew our innermost frustrations, we all rushed to English class that day. What we ended up finding when we walked through the doors turned out to be confusion, misunderstandings and even more vexing behavior. Crazy enough, it seemed like we had absolutely no inkling as to how to speak to the opposite gender, weird. Though, it is becoming more prevalent that it is not only the opposite gender, but all genders all over the place having lack of verbal abilities with any one, and it’s nothing short of utter chaos if you ask me.
Things unfortunately always have, and seem to be destined always continue on in this manner. Men and women are just far too different a mammal to properly coexist. That being said, there is a definite distinction between mentally being unable to comprehend the other sex, and just plain old not wishing to discuss problematic matters.The husband and wife in Katherine Anne Porter‘s short story “Rope” skirt around the subject of the man’s possible adultery, but no solution develops. Instead, the wife nags and complains about his lack of housework, coffee, and the allusive rope in which the man had purchased on a whim. With absolutely no actual dialogue between the characters of the story, the reader ends the tale feeling the same emotions as the characters, frustrated, unresolved and confused.
In a similar-but-not-similar-at-all way, Ernest Hemingway uses the idea of miscommunication in his story “Hills Like White Elephants” to tell the tale of a man and his girl discussing, but not really discussing, the idea of an abortion. The man confesses that it is “really an awfully simple operation” (Hemingway, 41) and that he just “knows [she] wouldn’t mind it… It’s really not anything” (Hemingway, 43) without any true knowledge of the proceedings, having obviously never experienced an abortion himself. To this, the girl does not respond at all, instead looks at the ground in silence, body language that to some would obviously mean a sense of unease, but to others nothing at all. Rather than speaking about the dark cloud that is circling about their conversation they speak in vague fragments and never truly come to a final conclusion, similar to “Rope” in the lack of resolution.
Communication errors are not only true in marriages and partnerships, but in each variation of relationships. It seems as though more and more daily distractions of the technological age have caused hefty language barriers between those speaking the same language. Even now, as I try to express my ideas into this internet realm, I’ve browsed Facebook, Tumblr, and taken lengthy texting breaks before even completing my first paragraph. It seems as though our lack of attention is taking a toll on many things, verbal expression being a dominating addition. How are we meant to have an insightful and inspiring conversation with a friend over tea while someone else could be on Facebook at that exact moment changing their relationship status to “Single”? It’s impossible, it just cannot be done.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Perrine’s Story and Structure. Eleventh Edition. USA: Micheal Rosenberg, 2006.
Darkly Dreaming Deanna 