What Does That Comma Mean?

It is strange that with so many different types of communication technologies we still have issues understanding each other. When writing on someone’s wall on Facebook or sending a text, communication is broken down to short, and often cryptic, messages. In the days of the telegraph it was the same thing, short and cryptic messages. With cell phones and the ability to actually talk to someone anywhere in the world it is sad that communication is not clearer. In the book I'm reading for my third year British Literature course, The Portrait of a Lady, there is a passage about understanding a telegraph from a female character. The men discuss the different meanings the messages may have. At one point they actually go over the options as to what “quite independent” means as, it could be financially or morally independent and it is hard to figure out who the phrase is referring to. Telegraphs were paid for by the word so in an effort to make them affordable they were always shortened and strange. However, one male character claims that the sender is purposely confusing and that it is not just a symptom of the expensive or faulted technology. Today our tools for communication are far more advanced but these annoying debates rage on. I cannot even count the number of times that I have sat with friends pouring over some two sentence text or online message trying to decipher the meaning. We are able to create infinite options and rationalize all kinds of meaning. There have been times when the very punctuation is called into question. “Now here he used an explanation mark but over here there is just a period and he put a period there but that actually appears to be a question, not a statement.” While grammar rules exist the question of how well the sender knows or follows them is also usually pondered. Over one hundred years ago Henry James, author of The Portrait of a Lady, wrote about something that I would like to pass off as a dated phenomenon connected to a technology no longer widely used. But, I look at the conversation described and realise that this lack of clarity has nothing to do with the medium through which the message is sent but human nature itself. I don't know if I believe that the character is purposefully sending unclear telegraphs. I'd like to think that then, and still today, most people try to communicate with good and pure intentions. We don't want to confuse or send others into hours of analyses. I think that that James is commenting more on the human need to over think and obsess over communication received. We need to all be clearer in our messages and more importantly receive them at face value without worrying over the multitude of options in meaning.