Christopher Hitchen's Essay 'Unspoken Truths'

Francisco Velasquez
February 3, 2015
English 100
Professor Ash
Words of Communication There are certain reasons why we as humans are seen as being a higher species. That’s due to the fact we have evolved to communicate and create relationships between one another in this way. As humans we tend to take many things we use on a daily basis for granted. In Christopher Hitchens essay titled the “Unspoken Truths” he conveys his experience of dealing with esophageal cancer or throat cancer in simpler terms, to his audience. He enjoyed speaking because he was good at what he did. He was a debater, an author and a journalist who contributed to. After he developed esophageal cancer, he relied on pain medication such as morphine, and adrenaline to
help him continue his speeches.
“So I have recently learned a song, entitled “If It Be Your Will.” It’s a tiny bit saccharine, but it’s beautifully rendered and it opens like this:
If it be your will, that I speak no more:
And my voice be still, as it was before...
I find it’s best not to listen to this late at night. Leonard Cohen is unimaginable without, and indissoluble from, his voice. (I now doubt that I could be bothered, or bear, to hear that song done by anybody else.)” People would send gifts when he was sick but turned it in inspiration when he took writing classes, if something is worth hearing or listening to, it’s very probably worth reading and to finish it Find your own voice.
He says he found it rewarding when a reader would feel “personally addressed”. would be deprived of a whole continent of human sympathy,
Hitchens brings up several points that caused me to reflect more deeply on what he was saying or how it relates to life in general’s Hitchens stated in his essay “Like Health itself, the loss of such a thing can’t be imagined until it occurs.”(Hitchens 88). You don’t know what you have until it is gone because there are people out there that take for granted what they already
have.
Whether it is the option to choose to be deaf or mute, the author believes if he would have been robbed earlier, he doubts he could have achieved what he did.
He owes Simmons Hoggart, an editor for the news publishing company, the guardian. An article he wrote was dull and was told to write the way you talk. How many of us can say we talk the same as we write? I think some things just sound better in my head then it does on paper, but Hitchens is asking can we really talk if we cant even write. The same way we have attitude in real life we also have a tone when it comes to writing. While writing a certain way the reader could be taking that the wrong way, which is why we need to put a voice in what we are trying to write.
In the passage, he involves medicals terms such as cord and the musical synonym chord each with their unique meaning to the author. The medical term cord he refers to being able to fold, sort of like an extension cord being folded up. On the other term he is mentioning is chord, to stir memories, produce music, to love, bring to tears when putting your thoughts in every note, Telling jokes is something I do to have fun with someone. Poetry is producing what you feel inside and organize in a way that can be communicated through
speech.
He states “And what do I want back? ...The Freedom of Speech.”(Hitchens, 90). I feel these are powerful words to conclude the struggles of not having voice. Women once didn’t have a voice, African Americans didn’t have a voice several countries don’t have a voice. People sometimes lose their voices due to illness or shock. I lost my voice not so long ago and it was the worst feeling ever. To wake up one day and not be able to say anything what so ever. To not be able to sing to your song on the radio in the bubble of your car to school
Through everything he’s accomplished and achieved even after losing his voice, deep inside he still feels empty. Like if he wasn’t the same person because it’s almost like losing his identity. I feel it is like seeing celebrities. We know them for their talent and if that is taken away then what are they? An empty shell of their former-self.
Just as Hitchens said he felt amputated so did I when I had a similar experience as his. The loss of your voice is a part of you and you need it in order to function. Without it is difficult to do anything, and you left to rely on others to help you out. I was told just stop trying to talk because they felt sorry for me. If political speakers didn’t have a voice we would have anarchy, if a popular singer had no voice they are not the icons they are known for we. The truth of the matter is your voice is the best thing I ever had. People drift away from you. When you don’t have a voice just as Hitchens said, “the snickering or the looks people give” (Hitchens). People look at you differently like a helpless animal.
This why instead of using the voices outside to define who you are. Use the voices in your head as an outlet for communication. The voices you hear from the people are what define what kind of country America will be. The people need a voice in order to make any changes but not everyone has that right. There was a time when women, Africans and immigrants were denied those rights. Even today the struggle for to having a voice is difficult. Without a voice a message cannot be sent. Then people blame the problems on those who had a voice because they were the ones who wanted the problem fixed. Causing other not to say anything at all.
When in writing and you find difficult remember to turn a bad situations into a positive because action speaks louder then words. This was an author who became who he was because of his struggle in loosing his voice. He accomplished so much even after the day he lost his voice. He felt less human because he was seen weaker then the rest. Emotionally he was not himself at first. For example America has laws and amendments that govern the people, and the first amendment states the government must respect the people’s freedom of speech. And yet we see this censored on a daily basis.