tlloyd - Macherey

“Actons speak louder than words” is a quote that I have referred to and valued for most of my life. There are so many situations where people ‘say’ they will do something or that they are such and such a way but when you spend time with them, their actions do not reflect what they say. There are other people who say very little about themselves but through their actions their true characters shines through and they become the people you value and trust. I think the piece by Macherey touches on this common saying on a much deeper level.

What Macherey’s essay truly focuses on is the ability for silence to give meaning to relationships. We see this all the time in interpersonal relationships (look at YankeeDoodle13’s example, ‘Just Say Something?’). We have all been in a situation where there is an unspoken tension. Maybe it is with a roommate, friend, sibling or parent. We may even have a conversation with that person but use of the silent treatment and non-verbal que’s indicate how we truly feel about the circumstance.

“If the author does not always say what he states, he does not necessarily state what he says” (Macherey 19). In text, we also see silence through the use of metaphors and analogy. In order to communicate something in a creative way or to give an example when trying to explain something we often use these speech tactics.

The Disney example was another idea brought up by a classmate in this blog. What Disney does in telling American history is they tell a very tailored and edited version of history. By not telling the full truth they say something about the character and ethics of the company. They omit key details to perform an idyllic story. This is another way in which silence is used to say something much louder.