There is little appreciation for communication in our world. Communication enhances our lives and allows for the advancement of ideas. In the short stories of Harrison Bergeron and A Perfect Day for Bananafish, there is a paramount thematic message that miscommunication leads to the disempowerment of citizens in their society and ultimately leads to death. It is important to understand how this theme relates to our lives so we can avoid its consequences. A country with disempowered citizens can have dangerous consequences; a government with absolute power over its citizens is boundless. Disempowered citizens, such as North Koreans, are ruled by an dictator who has absolute control over everything in his country. Written for The Washington…show more content… The main character, Seymour Glass, suffers from post-war traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People that suffer from PTSD all experience different symptoms unique to their experiences. Written by Shannon Newth, the article "Great Falls police officer fights back from PTSD, aims to help others" tells the story of Officer Labard. Officer Labard recalls his story by saying "What I'm picturing is there's a guy in the house killing people and so I have to leave this guy who I make eye contact with as I moved past him, and I remember having an enormous amount of guilt for not being able to explain to him why, and so I leave him and advance into the house" (Newth). Officer Labard started by drinking to ease his suffering and eventually developed to suicide thoughts. Thankfully he sought help and now helps PTSD victims. Every victim of such experiences suffer some sort of anxiety or depression and failing to communicate with someone about it can have catastrophic consequences. Seymour is psychologically damaged and cannot communicate with other adults because they do not understand him. Muriel, his wife, wants a psychiatrist to help him, not her. When her mother suggests that there is something wrong with Seymour, Muriel replies "There's a psychiatrist here at the hotel" (Salinger). This quote builds on the fact that Seymour could not even communicate with his own family because
