Silence and the scope of concepts in the novel “Fig Tree of Temples”

Abstract

One of the most important human activities is communication which enables him to express emotions and his needs. This communication can be non-verbal, movement, and verbal. According to the findings of the behavioral sciences scientists, only 30 to 40% of our communication is verbal, and about 60 to 70% of it is non-verbal which happens by expression of head, hands, eyes, eyebrows, etc. Since the verbal language is under the control of the conscious part of the human brain, words can be expressed consciously which are not in agreement with our intentions and emotions. As a result, the real intention is hidden or expressed in another way. However, the body language is controlled by the unconscious part of the human brain and it can’t be controlled very much. Therefore, it reflects real and inner emotions. The non-verbal behaviors have been mentioned and studied in most sciences including psychology, linguistics, communication, etc. These behaviors can be studied in literature because it indirectly shows the meaning. The silence was studied in this article among various non-verbal behaviors. The silence that apparently is not speaking can contain various concepts. The findings of this research show that silence has two types. The first type is indiscriminate and unintentional. The second type is purposeful and to show the intention. This type of purposeful silence can contain various concepts in different conditions such as sadness, anger, ignorance, satisfaction, contemplation, etc.