What would you do if you couldn't talk? How would you communicate your ideas to people? For Amiel, the answer is simple: Become a mime. No, not the black shirt and white face paint kind. Amiel pretends to pick avocados and generally acts out what he wants to say.
But it isn't just Amiel who has trouble communicating with people. Many of the workers only speak Spanish, and Agnès is French, so time and again we are asked to think about how we get our ideas across when speaking the same language isn't an option. Dark Water is interested in how we communicate with one another, and shows us what happens when these ways are broken down, blended up, and spat back out at us anew.
Questions About Language and Communication
- Why doesn't Amiel speak often even though he is able to? How does his lack of voice help us understand him? To jump-start your thinking, swing by the "Symbols" and "Characters" sections to read up on Amiel and his voice.
- How would Amiel and Pearl's relationship be different if they both spoke the same language and used it to communicate? What impact does Amiel's lack of voice and Pearl's lack of Spanish have on their relationship?
- Is language synonymous with power in the novel? Why or why not? Why do some characters know many languages, whereas others only know one?
- Pearl tells us that Hoyt inadvertently talks down to the workers since they don't speak the same language. Do you think this is fair? Why doesn't he employ a translator or learn Spanish?
Chew on This
Dark Water shows us that verbal language is the typical way that we communicate with one another, but there are many other ways that work just as well.
Amiel's lack of voice demonstrates how he has no voice in the legal system in Fallbrook since he is an undocumented worker.