Rainbows End Language and Communication Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Yeah." Rivera sounded close to surly. He looked over his shoulder at Robert. "What does he have on you, Professor?"

"I — — "

"Ah, ah, ah!" interrupted the Stranger. "I think we'd all be more comfortable without such revelations."

"Okay," said both victims. (21.25-8)

Without communicating it explicitly, Robert and Carlos Rivera have figured out that both of them have bargained with the Mysterious Stranger/Rabbit. It's amusing to us that Stranger/Rabbit tries to stop them from communicating more, but that very comment reveals stuff. By telling them not to talk about it, Rabbit has given away that there is something to talk about.

Quote #5

Robert tapped at his keypad:

Robert — > Miri: Thts whr we put most of our eqt.

Miri's chin came up.

Miri — > Robert: The sounds are like what we heard here. Someone's packaging another shipment out. (28.57-60)

If you wanted to write a paper on how "Technology" interacts with "Communication," you might want to look here. Note that Robert is using some old technology in the steam tunnels, so he has to type out his message. (And don't you just love his txtspeak abbrevs? Very early 2000s.) But Miri, who has her wearable computer still, just needs to move her chin and she sends a message in very clear English. (Even with italics!)

Quote #6

"This is crazy," said Winston. "How can you know there are nodes in your line of sight?"

"I don't. I'm going to shine signals off the sky haze. I'm calling in the marines." And then she was talking to her view-page. (29.81-2)

Even when the high-tech communication breaks down, people still find ways to communicate. Winston might have to make do with glares, but Xiu Xiang came prepared for this with a high/low-tech solution of bouncing a signal off the sky haze. (It would be clouds elsewhere, but San Diego is a cloudless paradise.) As with Rabbit trying to prevent revelations in the quote above, communication is hard to stop totally. Which brings us to—