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

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

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