The Communication Dilemma In The Dogs Of Babel

Carolyn Parkhurst is a famous American best-selling author.Her works are focused on the hot topics related to reality.Through various social relations,she discusses the communication dilemma between human and the sense of loss,sorrow,loneliness,desire and hope deep down in life.Her debut work The Dogs of Babel describes the two failed marriages of Paul and his efforts to teach the dog Lorelei,the only witness of his second wife's bizarre death,to speak in hope of finding out the truth.The two time lines in the story,Paul's recollection of his acquaintance and love story with Lexy and his efforts to teach the dog Lorelei to speak,reveal the communication dilemma and the great influence on people's life brought by the failure of communication.The thesis focuses on the communication dilemma at three levels.First,it explores the two failed marriages of Paul,exemplifying the communication barrier in language between human.Second,it describes Paul's efforts to teach his dog Lorelei to speak,analyzing the communication dilemma in the cross-“language” communication between humans and animals.Third,through Lexy and Paul's self-suppression it discloses that the essence of communication is that it should be conducted between souls.In the conclusion,it points out the symbolism of the image Babel which serves as an implication of communication dilemma in human society.The communication is almost impossible on all levels and the Babel reaching to heaven is hard to build.Only by communicating between souls can human achieve an effective communication and live in harmony with each other.