Language and Emotion

Language fails me when I am overwhelmed with an emotion. When I find myself in the midst of extreme frustration, I am unable to articulate the nature of my feelings. In this case I use language not to communicate or search for help, but rather to lure my listener towards my extreme confusion. Thus, language is no longer a tool of communication, but it is rather a tool in miscommunication. Words become inadequate at times to describe my intense feelings. When I search for words, I am searching for a way to express my lucid thoughts. However, words cannot capture the essence of an extreme emotion because emotions are intangible, and they can only be understood on a personal abstract level.

For example, I can recall one time when I was tremendously hurt by a girlfriend of mine. Her selfish and condescending comment brought forth in me a combination of anger and hurt. Not knowing whether to scream or cry, my words failed. Later that same afternoon, my mother picked me up from school. With her motherly sixth sense, she immediately noticed something was terribly wrong. However, when she asked me about it, I could not form the words that matched my horrific pain. My eyes bugged out, and tears began to roll down my flushed face. I remained silent. My mother seemed to understand without my saying a word. My display of intense anguish said it all.

Looking back on the incident, I am glad that my mother recognized my distress. Had she not understood, it would have been impossible for me to express it with words. At the time, no such word existed. My mind was too consumed with some feeling

between hurt and anger. How can that be described? It cannot. It can only be communicated by a scream or a sob.
When a person encounters an overwhelming mental state words are at a loss. It is like the reoccurring childhood dream: a person has the need to scream, but when he opens his mouth all that comes forth is silence. Words cannot always be appropriate in de-mystifying emotions. Even though words carry different connotations to different people, they are the concrete side of communication. Emotions are not concrete, they are abstract, and therefore they require an abstract representation.