Some might consider silence to be a lack of communication; however, silence can be an extremely powerful form of communication. What cannot be expressed in speech can be expressed through body language. Silence can be defined as not having any noise at all. Silence can help portray certain things that may be odd. For example, in "When We Arrive", silence was used to help the workers see that there was a problem with the truck they were traveling in. In some ways, silence can also be beneficial to someone's health such as reducing stress. Being silent and keeping your thoughts to yourself can help reduce of having problems with people around you in the future. However, silence is something many people ty to avoid because it makes them feel lonely or depressed. .
As defined by Dictionary.com, silence is the absence of any sound or noise; stillness. As stated by ethmonline.com, silence is "muteness, state of being silent," from Old French silence "state of being silent; absence of sound," from Latin selenium "a being silent," from silent, present participle of silence "be quiet or still," of unknown origin. Meaning "absence of sound" in English is from late 14c. Silence is one of the frequently used words in today's society. The word silence can be used in multiple ways such as a noun and verb. An example of a noun would be "They stood in silence." Whereas an example of a verb would be "A ringing phone silenced her." .
In "When We Arrive", the word silence is used to portray a problem occurring with the truck they traveled in. As stated in the story, "the silence alone told them something was wrong." Throughout the night, the noise the tires made while being rubbed against the pavement put them into a trance. When the truck stopped, they were awakened. When being in silence, most will think it will be easier to sleep; however, it is ironic how in this case the people were awakened by the silence.
