Communication is more than just words
When one sense is diminished, another is magnified, but can it ever truly be compensated? In some instances, yes however, when addressing the ability to communicate, there are two senses, that when absent hinders the communication process: sight and touch. Communication is more than just words. In an effort to explore this idea further, we will look at the movie “Witness”.
The movie, starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, takes place in New England. After losing her husband, Rachel Lapp (McGillis) and her son, Samuel, travel via railway to Baltimore, Maryland to celebrate the birth of Samuel’s cousin. When Samuel goes to the restroom during a delay in Philadelphia, he witnesses the murder of a Narcotics Officer. During the investigation, Detective John Book (Ford), discovers that the murderers are two fellow officers in conspiracy with the Chief of Police. In an effort to protect Samuel Lapp, John finds himself living in the Amish community with Rachel, Samuel, and Eli Lapp, Rachel’s father-in-law.
When two worlds such as an Amish community and a 20th century metropolis collide, they give textbook examples of different aspects of communication.
During the first half of the movie, when Rachel and Samuel enter into this unknown society, their reactions are mirrored by society’s reactions to them.
When Rachel and Samuels board the train, we see Eli Lapp, and friend of the family, Daniel; express their discontentment of Rachel’s decision to venture out into a world filled with “evil”. While Eli’s expressions are of concern and care, we notice, as Daniel gives Samuel a small wooden toy, his countenance pouring with an alterative motive as he smiles flirtatiously at Rachel.
Next, lets discuss Rachel’s insinuations towards the foreign society. When we see Rachel on Eli’s farm, she seems to be a very devoted Amish woman. This implication remains unchanged, as we see her at the train station in Philadelphia. She is very introverted, as she sits alone on a bench, sewing. She is stiff and apathetic to the world revolving around her and in making no attempt to commune with it, only speaks German to Samuel while in public, succeeding in isolating themselves. She demonstrates great lethargy towards any issue that exists outside her “realm”. She demonstrates this several times when, while someone talks to her, she stares out the window, making no eye contact and sending a loud and clear message that she does not want to hear what he or she are saying.
Rachel is the oldest daughter in the Price family, she is fifteen when the family first arrives. Rachel is a beautiful girl, and pretty much all she cares about is how she looks. As soon as she stepped foot in the Congo,
The film is set in Bodega Bay - a small town by the sea. All the
Throughout the novel the characters are put in these situations which force them to obtain information about the people they thought they knew. The center of finding out who everyone is was brought into play through the death of Marie. The story is told by David, only twelve years old, who sees his family an community in a different light for who they truly are under there cover. By doing his own little investigations, often times eavesdropping, David saw through the lies, secures and betrayals to find the truth.
story but also to show Rachel’s feelings throughout the story. As Rachel talks about her
This novel takes place in Holcomb, Kansas. The Clutters live in the area, on River Valley Farm. It is very clear from the introduction of the book that they are going to be murdered. The story threads between this family and Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The Clutters go on about their daily activities, having no idea what is to come. Dick and Perry slowly make their way towards the Clutter farm, with an evil plan to carry out. As they make their way to the farm, the duo make stops for supplies. Perry is shown to have came for parole, but not finding an old friend, he agrees to work with Dick. Capote goes back and forth between characters, with no correlation, only to who is the most important at any given time during the case. Dick and Perry eventually arrive at the Clutter home.
Presumably, complications start to revolve around the protagonist family. Additionally, readers learn that Rachel mother Nella left her biological father for another man who is abusive and arrogant. After,
In the short story Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, there is a direct contrast between a blind man named Robert, and the narrator. The narrator has full use of his senses, and yet he is limited to the way he sees things, and the way he thinks. Robert however, has a very different outlook on life and how he sees things, as well as the use of his senses. At the end of the story, Robert has the narrator close his eyes to try and get him to experience the world the way he does. The narrator ends up being able to not only see the way Robert does, but he also is able to feel the world in a completely different way. The author suggests that the mind is most important in how people view things, and the judgements we make are based on what we see in our heads, instead of what is really there.
Setting: The novel takes place a small town in Sterling, New Hampshire, where the tale begins to unravel in the school grounds of Sterling High. As the novel progresses the setting changes and begins to move through the homes of the main characters and the courtroom.
The setting for this film and the particular scene is vital to bringing the story into focus. The story is of a black man who is fighting for his own life and not going to prison for the killing of two white men who had raped his 10 year old daughter. The director Joel Schumacher and the author John Grisham revisit the small town of Canton Mississippi in order to shoot this film. This element brings a reality and a visual to the audience of where the actual events took place. This builds the drama in the story. The courtroom scenes are shot at the actual courthouse in Canton (Arrington 1996). Originally the filming location chosen was to be in Oxford. Fortunately the filming was to take place during football season and all the hotels were full. Another setback was the courthouse lawn in Oxford was too small, therefore the traffic would also have to be rerouted for up to 15 days and this posed a problem as well. The Canton location was a better choice for originality of the story (Arrington 1996).
Rachel does not turn for direction in her soul, but turns to her body instead, leaving her to be egocentric. If something doesn’t interest Rachel, it doesn’t matter to her. For example, when Ruth May died, the rest of the family handled the death badly, compared to Rachel, who seemed upset only because she wouldn’t be able to forget the Congo, and will continue to have memories of it. This is ironic, considering that Rachel does not show any interest in the Congo, but now she will have to have it haunt her for the rest of her
When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions.
From the start of the human history, information traveled as fast as a ship could sail, or a horse could run, or a person could walk. It gradually began to change. At the invention of telegraph, information could be sent quicker. So communication was anticipated, it was more of a waiting period to reach to the second person. Then the second person received the letter or telegraph, sent the answer back, which was very time-consuming. Nevertheless, communication between people face-to-face was fundamental. It was as necessary as breathing, therefore back in the days, there were a lot of gatherings, and it was characterized by simplicity, friendliness, and socialness. But the technology completely changed the daily lives of ordinary people. Now days, people are more immediate.
Child witnesses have provided a basis for controversy over the years in criminal justice. There are two main things that people worry about when it comes to having a child witness, one is the anxiety that is put on the child with regard to the traumatic experience and the other is dependability of the testimony. Child testimony has long been considered an important part of the case but what is to be done when there are questions regarding legal, ethical, and professional ways to interact with the children.
With communication continuing to change forms every day, we have seen many different theories and explanations to try and explain communication. Communication is an interaction between two objects in any way, as long as there is a connection between the two objects. With the ever changing theories of communication, Marshall McLuhan’s theory of the medium is the message and his Playboy interview create a very interesting question. Why does Marshall McLuhan see the development of communication as a downfall to our society as seen in the Playboy article where Adler, Johnson and Lakeoff show many ways communication can have long lasting positive effects on society? The three points that McLuhan brings up are the phonetic alphabet, extension and the electric age. This paper will critique the different points McLuhan has made by using material from Adler and Lakeoff and Johnson.
In the past, the means of communication were limited. The only means of communication was writing a letter or sending a telegram. The number of people one knew of were limited. At that time, one might not know the person living on the other side of globe but they did know who their neighbors were. They talked and interacted with each other and knew what others were going through. They communicated to less, but communicated more. Sadly, today, one knows the person who lives several thousand miles away through social media but one does not know his next door neighbor. An example of this is cited by Marche, a novelist who writes a monthly article for Esquire. Marche states, “Yvette Vickers, a former Playboy playmate and B-movie star, have been 83 last August, but nobody...