I haven’t had a lot of misunderstandings throughout my life, but a fairly significant one just occurred today…
Well, this morning I went to Costco with my parents to do some shopping, as part of the ongoing preparation work for the coronavirus epidemic. However, there was a misunderstanding regarding my homework before we left. I told my mom that I have 4 assignments to be completed throughout the coming days. Once she heard that information, however, she was enraged, believing that I shouldn’t be relaxed every day if there is tons of homework for me to complete. But that was a misunderstanding. In fact, only 2 out of the 4 assignments are due today, and the other 2 can be done in a later day. It seems the wording in our speech is very important — just a small difference can result in a significant misunderstanding between the speaker and the listener.
That significant misunderstanding due to a slight difference in wordings is also present in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. At the beginning of part 3 “Immortality,” Bobette, Lawrence’s “quiet on the outside but loud inside” wife, ran to he husband declaring that “part of Henrietta is alive” after hearing from her best friend’s brother-in-law that he got some of Henrietta’s living cells in his lab. Lawrence then called his father to tell him the same thing, but he remained skeptical. “It didn’t make any sense. He’d seen her body at the funeral in Clover himself.” (225). Henrietta is long dead, but that difference in wording has led to her relatives thinking that Henrietta is actually alive. That doesn’t make any sense, especially Day, who has seen her body at her funeral. A significant misunderstanding indeed!
Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay
Another prominent misinterpretation that is depicted very clearly in the world of entertainment?
At the very first episode of The Morning Show, Brandley Jackson, being enraged by a belligerent protester, screams “I’m EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!” without knowing about the consequences. She was fired from her television studio, of course, but a small misunderstanding of her actions has actually resulted in the video going viral online, and her getting a new job in a brand new studio. Just a small misunderstanding could make a huge difference to her future. She didn’t even realize that her actions were being recorded and that it would eventually become viral and a meme online!
Even a small misunderstanding can result in a vastly distinct consequence that is totally different from what would have resulted without it, better or worse.
Work cited
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown, 2010.
Hey Eric, judging by the evidence you have from the book along with your personal experiences, it does tell us how wording can be a change in meaning sometimes, even in modern days such as the event that happened to you. Although both are different types of events, they do both have pretty much the same common core – misunderstanding. How do you think misunderstandings can be prevented?
Hello, Eric!
I’ve found your connections between your real life, Henrietta’s life and The Morning Show (which I haven’t had the chance to see yet) quite interesting. One very interesting thing you’ve mentioned is the idea of consequences and how these misunderstandings could often result in dire ones. Communication is key to reaching the best or necessary results and when these crucial things fail or various parties find themselves on different pages, these different perspectives could clash. Such perspectives could be your perspective on the workload vs your mom’s perspective; Bobette’s ideas of HeLa cells vs the scientists’; or even the public’s understanding of what happened vs Brandley Jackson’s.
Would you agree with my compare & contrasts? What do you think about these fundamentalities of miscommunication & misunderstanding?