To understand the theme of communication, two appropriate stories to use are Tobias Wolff’s short story ‘Bullet in the Brain’ and Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’.
In Wolff’s short story, Anders communicates with a bank robber cynically and sarcastically until he gets shot in the head. During the robbery, Anders is continuously mocking the robber's choice of words they were using rather than maintaining silence as ordered. From the choice of words he uses, Anders is a vivid communicator, and his love of using worlds resulted in his death. Hence, his ability to effectively communicate resulted in his demise. Wolff reflects on Ander’s past as the bullet hits his brain and starts contemplating the experiences in his life. Based on the reflections, it highlights that Ander lacks a similar cynical and sarcastic way of communicating in the past that was arrogant. Therefore, the repercussion of his ability to communicate sarcastically criticizing everything the robber was saying caused his death. After getting shot, he could not remember his wife whom he loved as his perception was changed due to being in a situation that was life-changing, which highlights that his ability to effectively communicate was paralyzed.
Flannery O’Connor’s short story follows the grandmother and her family as they travel to Florida, where there is the Misfit who has escaped jail. The theme of communication is symbolic of the way the grandmother communicates with her family and the confrontation with a serial killer on the loose. In most cases, while communicating, the grandmother aims at manipulating her family members. The grandmother's aim is to get anything she desires, showing that her abilities to communicate liberate her hypocrisy of influencing other individuals. However, the repercussions of her ability to communicate effectively result in the demise of her entire family after she shrieked and recognized the Misfit. The grandmother’s character is paralyzed by her ability to communicate effectively in regard to her interaction with her son. It displays a relationship between a dependent mother with his indifferent son. The communication of the impotent grandmother with her insolent grandchildren is the repercussions of her abilities that have resulted in self-absorption and meaningless dangers due to her hasty struggles. After identifying the Misfit, he tells the grandmother that she should not have recognized him as he was going to end up shooting everyone. The grandmother’s attempt to communicate with the Misfit for him to spare her life was futile. Once faced with death, the ability of the grandmother to lie, beg, and be hypocritical does not stop the Misfit from killing everyone.
In Flannery O’Connor’s and Tobias Wolff’s short stories, the characters who are talented at communicating and are effective face the repercussion of death from their talent. Hence, from the two short stories, the reader learns the need to communicate when it is necessary without undermining your listeners. Anders ends up being shot by the bank robbers after he continued talking to them in a cynical and sarcastic manner, showing a lot of arrogance that was not appealing to the thieves. On the other hand, after the grandmother recognized the face of the Misfit, he ends up killing her family. Anders and the grandmother could communicate effectively, but the repercussions of their talents were met by demise.