Poor Communication Creating Conflict in The Secret River Essay

Poor Communication can create conflict

In Kate Grenvilles The Secret River, poor communication is the major cause of many conflicts found throughout the text. The inability to verbally communicate, in the areas of knowledge, values and laws, led to conflicts of misunderstanding, frustration and violence. Misunderstanding of body language, in the areas of appearance, customs and technology, led to conflicts of violence and abuse. Most of these conflicts finally resulted in people having a feeling of immense fear.

The inability between the blacks and the whites to verbally communicate meant that issues of knowledge, values and laws created conflicts of misunderstanding, frustration, violence and stealing. The Thornhills first moved to their new home at Thornhills Point, and this was where their first encounters and troubles with the blacks began. Will tried to communicate with them; however, one was just speaking meaningless words to the other. Will tried to explain that this was now his own new piece of land and they had all the rest. Through the lack of communication and different values, the blacks could not comprehend this as their way of life was to share everything, including land and food. This then lead to other conflicts such as the blacks stealing crops from the Thornhills. They made no effort to hide or run because according to their values, the food belonged to all. According to Will this was an act of breaking the law, however the blacks did not abide by these same laws and this caused a lot of confusion and frustration between the races. The failure to verbally communicate meant that they were unable to explain any of these issues to each other and this left them with no way to resolve these conflicts.

The misunderstanding of body language was another form of poor communication which led to conflicts of violence and abuse. Both races had very different views on what appearances were appropriate at this time. The shameless black men walked around in their nakedness as this was their usual way of life. The whites wore many layers of clothing as this was their custom back in London. Will bought three more guns, as it seemed a dangerous innocence to only have one. They practised shooting and made sure to let them know what we got. The Thornhills were extremely terrified, and having these powerful guns helped them feel a little more protected. However, the blacks did not know anything of this new technology, all they knew was how to spear. This misunderstanding caused each of them to be afraid, and forced them to use violence in a way of protecting themselves from this fear.

This obstacle of poor communication, in different forms, left the people in fear and wanting and abusing power. The whites were unable to understand the culture of the blacks and how they lived with the land and with each other. The war dances and the burning of the ground cause a lot of fear in the minds of the whites. The white people felt as though they had greater knowledge and therefore power over the blacks, because the way in which they lived seemed so unusual and uncivilised. The blacks were, however, simply misunderstood through the lack of communication. After several failed attempts at communicating, the whites led the way to the massacre of the blacks, where they showed no mercy. The inability to communicate left the people in fear of their surroundings and each other, leading to further conflict within the novel.

Throughout the text, Kate Grenville used many points of conflict, such as matters of knowledge, values, customs, laws and technology, to portray the issue of poor communication leading to conflict. The failure to communicate through verbal language and body language led to the misunderstanding and incapability to solve conflicts, further resulting in fear and violence.