Ojomo Minott
English: 101-LS4
Professor: Edwin Garcia
March 29, 2014
To Speak Or Not To Speak? N²: Naylor's Notion
In the essay A Question of Language by Gloria Naylor, she states “Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power” (221). This quote speaks of the fact that words in whatever form: written or spoken are just that- WORDS! Words themselves are simply a combination of letters from our known alphabet that merely combine to form a worldwide, recognized form of communication. They themselves hold no power. No weight. The same as a loaded weapon with no finger behind it eager to pull the trigger in sheer ecstasy of the thrill of the moment; either for themselves or on the behest of their “masters”. Sure, it's there but a gun idly sitting there by itself cannot cause harm to anyone. A weapon only becomes an instrument of war and death once it is picked up and equipped to a suitable vessel just like a symbiote. Guns don’t kill people. People use guns to kill people! As with guns, words themselves as well, more rather by themselves cannot do ANYTHING! It is but the very notions, the conceived ideas and tautologies by many various individuals that gives them meaning and power meant to be used to satisfy their own, personal agendas; some for good intents and purposes- others bad. Once word [of an idea] is spread vocally or written by the power of biased parties involved, “majority/minority vote” then comes into play. The audience which is listening then begins to “dissect” itself amongst itself into two groups: the majority and the minority. In her essay, Naylor speaks of her belief that it is the consensus (the majority) that “assigns meaning” and gives words “power” (221). I, for one, fully a...
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...s would occur, fights would break out and many times throughout history as we’ve seen unfortunately, we would go to war over words- both written and spoken resulting in the tragic deaths of many. Words are just words. They cannot physically hurt someone. Yes, at times they can be used as weapons by one individual or group to hurt another individual or group as we have seen so many times throughout history. Hopefully, as we- the human race move forward into the future, we can all truly learn that words are only mere spectators to the audiences that listens to them and nothing more at any given point in time through history. Words are just words. With no [biased] voice behind them, they cannot “speak”. Learn this absolute [truth] and the world will be [just] fine.
Works Cited
Naylor, Gloria. “A Question Of Language.” The New York Times Magazine 1986
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