Similarities Between Grendel And Ordinary People

Communication in Anti-social Characters

Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker and author, once said, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others”. Communication is the process of understanding and sharing. Through Catcher in the Rye, Grendel and Ordinary People, the lack of communication, whether it's verbal or nonverbal, is prominent between characters in each work. In Catcher and the Rye, Holden lacks communication with the people is he close with. In Grendel, lack of communication is shown when Grendel comes face-to-face with animals and humans. And last, in Ordinary People, Conrad lacks communication with his

mother.
In Catcher in the Rye, Holden struggles with depression and loneliness. Throughout the book all Holden wants is someone he can connect with, which ends up being his biggest problem. He struggles to get people to listen to him, and when he is able to talk to them he tends to make up lies. His lack of communication is because he judges too quickly and doesn’t let people express themselves. He automatically assumes they are phonies; if Holden’s first impression of someone isn’t pleasant, he won’t give them another chance. He hates phonies, demonstrated when he says, “Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it” (Salinger 40). Holden thinks phonies are hypocrites who have been depraved by society. Anyone who is tempted by money, drugs, lust or greed are phonies in his mind. Holden’s lack of communication also has a lot to do with his brother Allie's death. Ever since he died, Holden has been struggling to express his feelings towards people, especially when it comes to girls. The only way the readers know his true feelings is either when he is talking to Phoebe or through his writing. When he wrote Stradlater's composition, the reader could tell how Holden truly felt about his brother; he said, “I wrote about my brother Allie's baseball mitt. It was a very descriptive subject...He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody...God, he was a nice kid, though” (Salinger 5). This was one way Holden communicated his feelings through the readers.
In Grendel, communication was a whole different story for him.

He was living in a world where communication was frustrating. All he wanted to do was be able to fit in somewhere, but he didn’t want to communicate with animals and he wasn’t accepted in the human world. Being half animal and half human was hard. To him, the animals were too dumb and vulgar. Being half human, he could speak the human language but people feared him and carried disgust towards him. Being from a long line of monsters, people will jump to conclusions too quickly and will never see Grendel as “good”. Also, his mother is not able to speak nor understand any language, therefore leaving Grendel with no one to talk too.. Talking about his mother, says, “She'd forgotten all language long ago, or maybe had never known any. I'd never heard her speak to the other shapes. (How I myself learned to speak I can't remember; it was a long, long time ago.) But I talked on, trying to smash through the walls of her unconsciousness” (Gardner 28). With his mom unable to speak to him, he doesn’t feel as close with her. Grendel, then, often starts speaking to the sky or the woods or even to himself. He says, “So it goes with me, age by age. (Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see)” (Gardner 8). Being so cut off from the world, Grendel experiences different philosophies throughout the novel. Isolation and lack of communication is what affects him the

most.
Last, in Ordinary People, Conrad struggles to open up to people and share what he is feeling. Especially with his parents. His father suggested that he goes see a therapists and let him just talk. Dr. Berger, is one of the only people in this book that Con is able to express all of his emotion while feeling comfortable doing it. Dr. Berger is trying to get him to open up more and stop having him keep things inside. Dr. Bergers advice to Con was when he said, “That’s what happens when you bury this junk, kiddo. It keeps resurfacing” (Guest 118). He says that because he is trying to get Conrad to open up lines of communication to others. Communication is vital in any relationship and without it people can become depressed. This is shown between him and his mother, Beth. Since the beginning of the book Con and his mother haven't been able to talk to each other. Their conversations are short and superficial, and it probably has to do with the reason that they are both stubborn and don't share their feelings. There has also been a miscommunication with them that readers know about. There is a lack of communication between Con and his parents. Beth takes all of his actions the wrong way making her believe she is trying to be blackmailed by her son. Beth says, "Hate him? How could I hate him? Mothers don't hate their sons! I don't hate him! But he makes demands on me! He tries to blackmail me!" (Guest 238). Beth cant trust Con because he can’t talk to her without her interpreting things the wrong way.
Communication is a life skill to have; in order to maintain a strong relationship with somebody or achieve productivity, this is one key thing to have.

Communication is how you share meaning into something you say and how you say it. Without it, what would life be? It would be frustrating, that’s for sure. In three books we can see a lack of communication shown in three different ways. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden lacks communication with the people he is close with. He can’t seem to connect with anyone at school, his parents and even his roommate. He struggles to share what he is feeling with others, making him depressed and suicidal. We also see a lack of communication in the book Grendel, as well. Grendel struggles to talk to anyone. He knows the English language but no humans accept him, and his mother doesn’t understand communication. So ultimately Grendel is left with no one to talk too. And last, we see a lack of communication in Ordinary People. Conrad has been struggling to communicate ever since he’s been out of the hospital. He can’t communicate well with others, especially his parents. But with the help of Dr. Berger, Con is able to express some more emotions towards the end of the book. Communication is a part of everyone, and it’s a part of our

self-concept.