Silence And Paralysis
...we have become so firmly fixed with our country's systematic political system that it is hard to imagine anyone actually trying to make a difference for massive social change. This problem of silence and paralysis has been used in many works of literature, throughout the ages, as an underlying theme. Dickens, Bronte, Becket, Orwell, and Pinter the authors of Hard Times, Shirley, Waiting For Godot, The Dumb Waiter, and 1984, show how silence and paralysis always come into effect because many people are afraid to speak there mind. Each author indirectly brings out other common themes in their works of literature as well. Other common themes include Inferiority, superiority, diversion (which redirects the dialogue), stereotypes of the time (fact vs. fancy), and most importantly as just stated, the use of silence and paralysis. Despite silence and paralysis being two different linguistic techniques, they work hand in hand. Both limit certain ideas from being able to be acted upon and actually making some form of change. These five works of literature prove this point very effectively. These two devices are used in conversation and expressed differently by each author and show how each fictional character struggles to find meaning in his/her self and life, and also makes apparent which qualities each character possesses and if change is at all possible.
In Dicken's Hard Times the linguistic device of silence and paralysis is used often. Throughout this story the idea of fact vs. fancy (imagination) stir up the emotions of many of the characters. One character in particular in which this idea is apparent is Louisa. Louisa is Mr. Gradgrind's daughter, who was raised on facts and was never able or allowed to express herself in an imaginative way. All her life she was told how to act and was denied the stimuli of life experience. Although she was taught in a factual...
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