E.M. Cioran stated that “we feel safer when a madman talks than if he cannot speak.” Though this statement seems counterintuitive at first, it’s true. We are then forced to wonder why silence has such power. Silence can be defined as the absence from sound. Why can an absence have such a commanding effect? Its ability to stifle and overwhelm is the answer. Silence is undefined and invites imagination, which makes it intimidating. This fact is often used to control people. The Woman Warrior and Beloved by Toni Morrison both illustrate this theory. Different cultures and individuals are using silence to manipulate and control others. Language, while less intimidating than silence, is still powerful. A language-based response is needed to combat the silence. The Woman Warrior and Beloved both show that language can break the silence.
In Beloved (The Book of Love), whites use their silence to suppress the blacks, directly or indirectly. Morrison introduces this idea immediately in her dedication for the “60,000,000 and more” Blacks who died during slavery. Morrison uses this concept to honor the blacks who suffered from slavery and died in silence. Even those who were black and survived battled silence. They were denied their right to learn to read and write. Their fates, or those of their family members were decided without their input. Their suffocation was also symbolic, as they suffered brutal and irrational treatment. They were stripped of all humanity, told they were unworthy, and treated like animals. Dehumanization did not only cause the slaves to lose their voice, it also damaged the ability of the slaves to express themselves. They had to bury their memories, both to themselves and to others in order to remain functional as humans after slavery. Sethe struggles constantly to suppress her memories of slavery. She often distracts herself or works in order to do so. She is unable to cope with her emotions when the memories resurface. She was recalling something she forgot she knew. It was as if something shameful had crept into a small slit of her brain (Morrison 73) It is not only a display of the paralyzing effects that their abuse had on them, but also a reflection of the shame they felt. Sethe uses distractions to push these feelings back into her subconscious. She says, “There’s nothing better to begin the serious work of reversing the past than this” (ibid. 86). Paul D.’s memories are kept in the tobacco tin hidden under his heart, where it used to have a red color. The lid had rusted (ibid. 86). Denver, a man who only inherits the effects of slavery, has to deal with this suppression. She could not listen to anything after hearing something about the past of her family that she “could not bear” (ibid., 122). She walked in silence for two years, which was “too solid to be penetrated” (ibid. 121). The physical symptoms are extreme, but the silence throughout the book is indicative of slavery’s terrible effects. This silence does not solve the problem, and only prolongs it. This silence can never last because it is only through confronting the silence that the former slaves are able to live a normal life. This is a difficult process, even though it will ultimately be beneficial. Amy said, “It will hurt now…anything that is dead and coming to life hurts”. The dehumanization of slaves is the first and most difficult problem. However, it’s more approachable than suppressed memory. Baby Suggs aims to solve this problem by organizing gatherings which promote expression of humanism, individualization, love of oneself, and other values. She tells the group, “[the people of color] ain’t going to love what you have to say…they won’t pay attention to it.” You have to love it. They don’t hear what you shout. The response is a massive emotional explosion, which includes “laughing men, dancing children, and crying women” (ibid., 103). It is amazing how powerful it is to release such pent up hurt. Sethe D., Denver, and Paul D. are able to release their pent-up hurt by being in the presence Beloved. The human embodiment is suppressed memories, which now appear, not only on the surface, but take a physical form. Each of them is forced to face the past in their own way by her presence. Paul D discovers, for instance, that when he has sex with Beloved “the flakes of rust…fell out of the seams on his tobacco can.” The lid fell and he was unaware (ibid. page 137). Denver tells stories because Beloved inspires her. Denver speaks, Beloved listens, and together they try to make up what happened. Denver is able to find relief from the repression and silence she has experienced growing up. She only has a few fragments of stories that she desperately holds onto. Sethe’s catharsis is triggered by Beloved. She reminds everyone that memories are not meant to be buried forever.
Woman Warrior’s silence is less harmful, but still very hard to accept for those bound by it. Although not as maliciously, the silence in Woman Warrior is a similar attempt to control a society’s culture and traditions. The efforts are directed at women, children and anyone who is threatening the continuation or the culture. Chinese people can influence what other people say and don’t speak by controlling the words they use. Selective speech is especially important when the Chinese culture is at risk of disintegration (with immigration to America). The story of “no-name woman” is an example of this. She is an aunt who was rejected by her family, and later took her life (and that of her baby) after she had been rejected. Maxine was told to keep this woman’s identity secret. “We say your father has brothers and that she is not a real person” (Kingston). They do this to suppress any memories of her that may not fit in with their culture’s goals. The silence of girls and children is highly valued. This can be seen when Brave Orchid buys a girl slave to work as a nursing assistant. Moon Orchid was also surprised by her children’s “impoliteness” (“untraditional” in Chinese) when she moved into Brave Orchid’s house. Moon Orchid finds the children abominable because they don’t know how to only speak when asked and at the right volume. These things are not taught to the children because no one speaks about them. This lack of communication by adults only increases the anxiety that children feel about not fitting in. No one has ever told them how to adapt to American culture. No one tells them what to do. Nobody can teach them how to become Chinese-Americans. Even the children don’t know what tradition is. Maxine says that even the good things were unspoken. “We kids had to infer what the holidays meant…the adults would get mad and evasive if we asked.” Maxine claims that her mother even cut her own tongue as a child in order to keep Maxine quiet. She remained silent for three whole years, though not because of that. She could not explain her silence but understood that other Chinese women were silent too. It is unfortunate that the children have difficulty speaking because their culture controls what they say and don’t say. Maxine explains, “you also can’t give your voice over to the Chinese. They want to take your voice and use it for themselves.” They want your tongue fixed up to speak for themselves” (ibid., 169). Although it is most evident in the children’s voices, adults and children alike struggle to keep their voice in a world that wants them to be “captured”.
As demonstrated, suppressing memories is not permanent or complete. Expressions and language always appear, either subtly or aggressively. The Woman Warrior shows that this can be done in a variety of ways, from “talk-stories” to bullying and projection. Brave Orchid (and later Moon Orchid) all use “talk stories” to convey selective messages. “White Tigers”, a story about female strength and finding the balance between filial duties, social obligations, and personal goals, is told in this film. Brave Orchid’s elaborate stories allow her to impart this wisdom to Maxine, which is impossible to do in Chinese culture. Maxine learns from Brave Orchid that, while she may have dreams and goals, there are also duties she must fulfill. The women are using this as a disguised method to end the silence. They want to ensure that future generations of females will be emotionally and psychologically strong. Maxine doesn’t notice this right away, even though she has always seemed to be attracted to stories. Maxine is not mature enough to understand the oppressive silence. She targets the girl in class who doesn’t speak at all. She pinches and screams that “why won’t YOU talk ?…If You don’t Talk, You Can’t Have a Personality…You’ve Got to Let People Know That You Have a Brain and a Persona” (ibid. p.180). Maxine’s anger is evidently directed at this girl. Maxine does not understand why her friend won’t speak. Maxine also cannot understand Chinese customs, what she should be doing, or her silence. Maxine has a second, healthier reaction: She tells her mother the things she’d been afraid of saying out loud. She believes that “maybe I had over 200 things in me that I wanted to tell her so that she could know the truth about me and stop the pain I felt” (ibid. 197). Maxine has no choice but to take action in order to end the silence. She is rejected because her mother does not listen. She does not care that her mom won’t hear her and she yells it all out at her – her fears and regrets. Maxine’s solution is to write everything down. Writing allows her to break the silence, which she had been living with for years. She can also fill in the gaps by creating contextual (and often made up) realities that will help explain what she never knew. Maxine’s disclosures may upset her family. But she is using language to break the silence for all oppressed people.
The language is not always pleasant, but ultimately, it ends the cycle. Language becomes more and more necessary through silence. Silence is confusing and repressive. Therefore, expression and language are necessary to counteract it. Language and expression are the only ways to find freedom, individuality, and release.
