grace of The Gentlemen, who communicate easily through gestures and other visual signals. Their communication is simple and direct: nods, head tilts, and hand movements achieve exactly what they want them to. The Scoobies, however, are confused and accomplish the opposite of what they intend. When they are rendered silent they are also rendered useless, unsure of how to fight The Gentlemen. According to two Buffy essayists, part of the horror stemming from the arrival of The Gentlemen is the silence that makes the people of Sunnydale helpless, easy victims. Jenkins and Stuart assert that through the loss of speech, the communication in "Hush" is transformed from the senseless locutionary to the perlocutionary: acts upon which ideas are conveyed into instant meaning and action. The scream uttered by Buffy to destroy The Gentlemen has severe implications for them although it has no real meaning. Even Tara's writing down Willow's room number before going to her dorm communicates that she has been thinking of Willow and wishes to find her. This act confirms to both Tara and the audience that she is interested in Willow. Community Although Sunnydale has long been familiar with demons and monsters who have inhabited the town and fed off its residents, in this episode the conventions by which societal functions are so disrupted by the unexplained silence that significant chaos results, enough to warrant both Riley and Buffy going on patrol to keep order. Buffy and Willow walk down a familiar street, arm-in-arm and easily startled, and see a bank closed and patrons running into a liquor store that is obviously open. The breakdown of order also causes sudden religious fervor; a group of people have gathered on the street to read the Bible (Revelation 15:1 is written on a signboard—an allusion to the seven angels with seven plagues as there are seven Gentlemen, according to author Nikki Stafford). Opportunistic capitalist fervor results in a man selling overpriced dry erase boards. Community, notes Patrick Shade (citing sociologist George Herbert Mead), consists of institutions such as language, religion, and economics. When one institution disappears, Sunnydale residents begin to depend more heavily on the others. Mostly, however, individuals are isolated from one another during the silence. Even the Scoobies find their bonds shaken, as they are unable to use the witty banter that has marked them as a group thus far. (This awkwardness extended even to the actors: