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Importance of effective interpersonal communication
The importance of Interpersonal Communication
Importance of communication in interpersonal
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It is impossible to avoid unpleasant situations throughout an individual’s lifetime, especially if they are a result of bad luck or another combination of events beyond one’s control. Misfortune however can also be self-inflicted. This particular case is apparent in Margaret Lawrence’s The Stone Angel, a novel in which the protagonist, Hagar Shipley’s continuous misfortune is a direct result of several of her character flaws. An exaggerated sense of pride, a lack of compassion and empathy and an inability to communicate clearly are Hagar’s most prominent character flaws, and perpetually bring about misfortune.
Many of Hagar’s relationships have been hindered, or have eventually deteriorated as a result of her exaggerated sense of pride. Because of this her misfortune in relationships is self inflicted, as she decides consciously or unconsciously to sustain her pride rather than her relationships. When Hagar decides to marry Brampton Shipley, a man thought to be unsuitable for someone of her social status, her father literally forbids her to wed. He tells Hagar that his thoughts are solely for her welfare and that to marry without a fathers consent is simply not done. More to spite him rather than to defend her personal conviction, Hagar says “It’ll be done by me.” (Laurence 49). This defiant and rash remark results in the loss of her father’s relationship, and the loss of of her sound financial future, as Hagar is left no money in her father’s will. Her decision is clearly based on pride. Similar behavior is seen throughout the novel.
Another unattractive personality trait of Hagar’s is her insensitivity to others. Hagar consistently focuses on herself and does not empathize with others in a situation, regardless of their difficult circumstances. This is destructive to her relationships. Individuals would not feel as if they mattered. This lack of empathy also explains her inability to generate new relationships. An example is when Hagar’s son Marvin and daughter in law Doris, confront Hagar about their inadequate physical or emotional capabilities to care for her. They then suggest she move into a retirement home. After a long argument, Hagar is reduced to tears. Marvin and Doris are then distressed - Hagar simply says “Good. They’re frightened. I hope they’re scared to death.” (Lawrence 77). This lack of empathy causes Hagar’s insensitivity to Doris even though Doris herself is not in prime physical condition.
People all over the world continuously commit sins some are bigger than others and some do more damage. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed and force to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, try to adapt to life as an outsider. The two are continuously judged for Hester’s sin, and humiliated, however, they overcome this judgment and are seen in a different way. Hester and Pearl have been publicly shamed, Pearl has been considered an elfish devil like child, and after all the humiliation they were able to turn their lives around.
For so long she has been around what she saw as the destination for her life, which was success and happiness, in the lifelong family friends the Lowells. She assumed they were just given this life without ever thinking they had to work as hard as she did to get there, consequently envy and resentment ensued. The resentment started with the whole family and then got more intense and personal when it came to the daughter of the Lowells, Parker, someone Andrea could identify with on a personal level. This story illustrated for us the unseen factors and repercussions that too much ambition to be accepted by anyone can have one's long lasting development into their own person. This journey to prove who you are to others can lead to intense emotions and motives that aren’t normal yours and can cause you to lose sight of the very person you’re trying to prove that you
The first encounter with Helga Crane, Nella Larsen’s protagonist in the novel Quicksand, introduces the heroine unwinding after a day of work in a dimly lit room. She is alone. And while no one else is present in the room, Helga is accompanied by her own thoughts, feelings, and her worrisome perceptions of the world around her. Throughout the novel, it becomes clear that most of Helga’s concerns revolve around two issues- race and sex. Even though there are many human character antagonists that play a significant role in the novel and in the story of Helga Crane, such as her friends, coworkers, relatives, and ultimately even her own children, her race and her sexuality become Helga’s biggest challenges. These two taxing antagonists appear throughout the novel in many subtle forms. It becomes obvious that racial confusion and sexual repression are a substantial source of Helga’s apprehensions and eventually lead to her tragic demise.
Humans are never perfect, and their emotions often conflict with their logic. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator receives a physically disabled brother, Doodle, thus trains Doodle physically so that he could live a normal life. Throughout the story, the narrator’s actions and thoughts reveals his true personalities to the audience as he slowly narrates the story of himself and his scarlet ibis, Doodle, whose existence he dreaded. In the story written by James Hurst, pride, love, and cruelty, these conflicting character traits all exists in Doodle’s brother. And the most severe of all, pride.
The feeling of having been betrayed by a trusted or important figure in your life can result in emotional damage, which can eventually lead to personal destruction. “Stone Angel” by Margaret Lawrence and “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, are two works of literature that put that very statement into context. Although, the theme of betrayal is evident in both pieces, the protagonists of the different plots – Hagar Shipley and Willy Loman – experience betrayal in two very different fashions. Hagar Shipley is destroyed by her loss of independence and Willy Loman is forced into taking drastic and unnecessary actions. Acts of betrayal are scattered throughout the lives of the two protagonists. Betrayal put them off the path of life on which they originally began, and drops them on a path of destruction, which in time leads to their premature end.
After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins “to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart” (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard’s mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has “grown unable to write” (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard’s inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees “a gray –haired woman” that showed “sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude” (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: “his throat [aches] with remorse and pity” (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his “excited and pleasurable life” that he has “neglected her” (par. 92). Another indication of Howard’s neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:
Hagar is a maidservant, and therefore is only supposed to be treated like such. This is the impression I received from the book, Abraham and All the Families of the Earth by Gerald Janzen. Janzen opens the commentary expressing, “Male and female are called to help one another. Abraham and Sarai are peer
Seeing that the two youngsters were very nearly an engagement, Lefroy's family sent him home instead of giving him a chance to connect himself to somebody as poor as a minister's little girl. Austen's second brush with marriage happened at age twenty-seven, when the well-off Harris Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen acknowledged. The following morning, in any case, Austen altered her opinion, surrendering the riches and security inborn in such a match since she didn't love him. In spite of the fact that Austen never wedded, the accentuation of romance and marriage in her books exhibits the effect that these encounters had on her and her enthusiasm for adoration and marriage (Harcourt,
Constant failure can cause someone to ask: “why am I even trying?” and “what the point if I can’t do it perfectly?”. Teresa Borchard writes about her losing sight of a path in front of her in her article "Good Perfectionism versus Bad Perfectionism", where she talking about getting caught in an OCD loop stating: “I have trouble letting go of the decision I made last week, or a mistake I made six years ago, or something in the future that I’m preparing for” (Borchard). Gawain experiences the same kinds of set-backs during the poem, often veering off the path in front of him because of his constant want for perfection. Even when he accomplishes a goal, he feels as though he doesn’t actually deserve any positive reinforcement because he wasn’t perfect with every step of the way. For example, Gawain states "I am greatly honoured, though I am not in fact such a man as you speak of, to deserve such respect as you have just described I am completely unworthy, I know very well” (Sir Gawain… 1241-1244). Rejecting encouraging feed-back as well as getting caught up in the small imperfections of something positive are both results of striving for complete perfection. It is easy to “forget that as humans we’re part of nature, as well. As such, we would benefit if we came into acceptance of the natural flow of life, which by the way,
tragedies that befell her. She is an example of a melancholic character that is not able to let go of her loss and therefore lets it t...
Our world, and lives, are full of trials and tribulations. Its our choices, actions, or lack thereof when facing these difficulties that influence the direction of our lives. Rene Denfeld explores this wonderfully in her novel The Enchanted. Her characters all face trials, of varying degrees of intensity, that not only shape them but also the direction of their lives. She delves into this process thoroughly through her character of the white-haired boy. He transforms from an optimistic boy, to a hollow victim of abuse and a corrupt penal system, and finally into a man who did what was necessary to survive.
Hagar prides herself on never showing weakness to everyone or anything in her life. All of Hagar life she never realizes that her pride pushes and hurts people in her life,
Emily Bronte’s, Wuthering Heights, includes the struggle for happiness, like marry like, and revenge. Heathcliff grew up neglected and abused. When he fell in love with his long time friend, Catherine Earnshaw, she betrayed him by choosing another man over him, causing Heathcliff to become bitter and rude to everyone who comes in contact with him. He goes out of his way to make everyone miserable and unhappy just like himself. Although the perspective of Heathcliff is seen as “a mad man,” he is actually suffering from Antisocial Personality Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Depression.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights employs one of the most powerful forces to drive its plot forward: the need for revenge. This is a force like no other because it thrives on negative emotions such as suffering, loss, and anger, especially from the pain of rejection in the novel. Not only is it influential, but also prevalent. Bronte depicts that the need for revenge is hidden in many characters, suppressed by love, until a single event unleashes its fury, corrupting characters and causing them to aggravate their misdoings, with one disaster following a first. Revenge, like abuse, is a repeating cycle; a sufferer becomes the inflicter of suffering on others so that everybody feels the pain, and only the power of love can overcome this
When Hagar realizes she cannot control or stop the process of old age, she becomes depressed and distant. When she hears about Silverthreads, she is "overcome with fear, the feelings one has when the ether mask goes on, when the mind cries out to the limbs, 'flail against the thing', but the limbs are already touched with lethargy, bound and lost" (pg.