Just a few short weeks ago I was in Cancun, Mexico for spring break. I was staying in an all inclusive resort located right on the beach. The first morning there I awoke much earlier than I had planned. I threw the covers off, rose to my feet, and walked out onto my fifth floor balcony. Never have I seen a more beautiful sight. The sun was beginning to rise out over the Gulf of Mexico lighting up the sky in bright oranges and golden yellows. The waves were crashing elegantly into the beach. I could practically feel the mist from the ocean spraying on my face. It was gorgeous.
I called my grandmother later that morning to tell her how the trip had been going. I tried to explain to her the beauty I had seen that morning, but I could not find the words to explain that sight in as much detail as I wanted. I don’t believe there are words that would do such a sight justice. I explained the view to the best of my ability, and she seemed to understand, but I knew I had only scratched the surface. There seemed to be an infinite amount of detail that I was leaving out and nothing I could do about it. It was my own experience and no one would be able to fully understand the feelings and emotions I had at that particular moment in time.
Personally I believe language will never have the ability to capture the enormity of experience. It gives an audience a vague understanding of the situation, but will never truly capture the feelings and emotions of the author. Words only allow a reader to understand certain sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, but there is no way for them to completely recreate every emotion or though running through a person during his or her own experience. You can listen to a basketball game on the radio, but no broadcaster will ever be able to give you the exact feeling of sitting courtside at that very same game. Reading or hearing about some experience is often a very good start or a gesture towards an experience, but personally I feel there are no words that have the power to recreate the enormity of a person’s experience. I’m not sure if there is some set of vocabulary, tropes, and schemes out there that has the capability of expressing one’s experience in full. Maybe there is, who knows, but I’m sure of one thing, I don’t know it.
S.T.L.
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I do agree that words can never truly capture an experience in the same way as being there. However, it should be noted that language can come very close to substituting for actual experience. This is to say that through language there can be varying degrees of experience. Without language (and modern technology) one would either experience something or not, with no in between. Language can be used in varying capacities to create an experience.
ReplyDeleteTo refer to the example used in the initial post (the beautiful scene in Mexico overlooking the ocean) although others weren't there to view the scene, they could get a pretty accurate mental image of the experience. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that anyone can use language in this way. In order to truly be able to share an experience as if the other person is there, a great amount of skill is required. Someone who has talent using language can provide a detailed description of the experience: sites, sounds, smells, ambiance, etc. Whether this comes as a story, narrative, or scene description or through the channels of writing or speaking doesn't matter. Someone skilled at using language will be able to provide others with something that closely parallels the experience itself. This skilled individual has at their disposal a plethora of tools to pick and choose from in order to best try to share their experience. Metaphors, similes, comparisons, descriptive language, and adjectives are just a few of these tools. Through the use of these, although the experience may never be able to be identical, the speaker/writer is able to at least blur that line.
Although language will never be able to truly replace an experience, it can be a very effective substitute. There are many times when an experience is impossible or very difficult to have. For example, for Sean's grandma seeing the sunrise over spring break in Mexico probably wasn't going to happen. Although through his description, she was likely able to get a very good idea of what he experienced. Another example could be a student researching a festival in some foreign land. Although directly experiencing the festival isn't an option, the use of language by others can make them fell as if they know what the event is like. Language simply cannot replace these experiences, but it can do a great job at substituting.