The Importance of Words
Elishia Yeboah-Amako
Mrs. Valdez
ENG 4U1-02-Period 1
September 20, 2012 The Word and How Should One Read a Book? : The importance of words to society One should never live without knowing how affective words are towards the structure of society. In Pablo Neruda’s The Word and Virginia Woolf’s How Should One Read a Book? The authors present words as a source of power obtained by consumers and those who are willing to live by it. Within both works of art, there are evidence of how words are important for the use of communication, entertainment, and culture; which are used to build up nations. Communication is what help people understand others want, need and expectation. Evidently communication plays a big role in how society is run. Entertainment is what keeps mankind from being bored or causing mayhem; sadly people never associated entertainment with words .culture consists of many things but words are what help human understand custom and tradition. Ultimately language is important for the survival of society. To begin, in The Word by Pablo Neruda, he initially starts with how the word came about, but goes on and talks about how words are what keep communication alive. Good communication is the key to a good relationship; if people do not understand what is being said to them, then the relationship is doomed. There are many ways of communicating, but the most used by the public and private is the verbal communication so “for human being not to speak is to die” (Neruda, line 45) most people cannot converse without words because speaking or writing is the most familiar to them and they do not want to change what they are accustomed to. People use communication to provoke action in others; an example is a child asking a parent to pick up a toy that is out of their reach. Words are what make the world go round. Therefore, verbal conversation made between human can either resolve or start conflict.
Mrs. Valdez
ENG 4U1-02-Period 1
September 20, 2012 The Word and How Should One Read a Book? : The importance of words to society One should never live without knowing how affective words are towards the structure of society. In Pablo Neruda’s The Word and Virginia Woolf’s How Should One Read a Book? The authors present words as a source of power obtained by consumers and those who are willing to live by it. Within both works of art, there are evidence of how words are important for the use of communication, entertainment, and culture; which are used to build up nations. Communication is what help people understand others want, need and expectation. Evidently communication plays a big role in how society is run. Entertainment is what keeps mankind from being bored or causing mayhem; sadly people never associated entertainment with words .culture consists of many things but words are what help human understand custom and tradition. Ultimately language is important for the survival of society. To begin, in The Word by Pablo Neruda, he initially starts with how the word came about, but goes on and talks about how words are what keep communication alive. Good communication is the key to a good relationship; if people do not understand what is being said to them, then the relationship is doomed. There are many ways of communicating, but the most used by the public and private is the verbal communication so “for human being not to speak is to die” (Neruda, line 45) most people cannot converse without words because speaking or writing is the most familiar to them and they do not want to change what they are accustomed to. People use communication to provoke action in others; an example is a child asking a parent to pick up a toy that is out of their reach. Words are what make the world go round. Therefore, verbal conversation made between human can either resolve or start conflict.
Cited: Neruda, Pablo. "Viewpoints 12." Trans. Alastair Reid The Word. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc, 2002. 4-6. Print. Woolf , Virginia. "Imprint 12." How Should One Read a book. Toronto: Gage Learning, 2002. 261-270. Print.