Thesis Exercise
Gina Berriault’s “The Stone Boy” and Simon
& Garfunkel’s “The Dangling Conversation”
Directions
• How does the song, “The Dangling Conversation” by
Simon & Garfunkel relate to the community and
Arnold in the story? By extension, what kind of
statement do both works make about human beings
and communication?
• Formulate a thesis, based upon one of the models
on your “Thesis Statement” handout, in answer to
the questions above. Additionally, provide an
outline of evidentiary points . . .
Example One: Before
• In both “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling
Conversation” the lack of intimate and heart-felt
communication fails to establish the emphatic link
necessary to allow full understanding between the
conversationists.
Example One: After
• In both “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling
Conversation” the lack of intimate and heart-felt
communication ultimately results in an inability for
the protagonists to establish an emphatic link crucial
for them to overcome their retreat into silence and
apathy, thus driving them further into a world of
isolation and indifference.
Example Two: Before
• “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling Conversation”
express the feelings of separation from the people
they loved and ones who loved them, especially
through the lack of conversation.
Example Two: After
• In “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling
Conversation” protagonists articulate their
desperate feelings of isolation from loved ones,
especially as evidenced through the ambiguous
power of communication or the lack thereof.
Example Three: Before
• In “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone
Boy” the characters live in a superficial world, only
seeing life as a still-motion picture, yet the extremity
of the events in “The Stone Boy” cause us to
question the true definition of “superficial.”
Example Three: After
• In “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone
Boy” characters live in a superficial world, only
perceiving life as a still-life picture, yet the gravity of
events in “The Stone Boy” and the unspoken events
in “The Dangling Conversation” challenge the reader
with superficial notions of communication and
intimacy.
Example Four: Before
• Life is wonderful when all family and friends are
together and loving. What happens when one of
those best friends is killed? In the midst of life being
wonderful a dead friend changes everything and
everyone. The community surrounding Arnold in
“The Stone Boy” supports the idea in “The Dangling
Conversation” that after tragedy happens, people
will only go through the motions of life every day,
while never being the person.
Example Four: After
• In the heart of happiness tragedy—or simply day-today existence—changes people, as the
“communities” in both “The Stone Boy” and “The
Dangling Conversation” prove. That is, these texts
demonstrate that in the midst of trauma, or even in
the midst of living everyday lives, soulful
communication expires and must be redeemed in
order for the wounded not to fall into destructive
patters of silence, merely chugging through the
motions of everyday life.
Example Five: Before
• “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone Boy”
both present a world that lacks communication and
true understanding and reveals the problem that
human beings face when they don’t effectively
communicate with one another, whether it be your
own son or the person next to you reading a book.
Example Five: After
• “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone Boy”
both present a world in which characters lack the
ability to communicate, thereby revealing the
devastation they face when they resist intimacy—
whether it be with a son, a sibling, or a spouse— and
ultimately become “couplets out of rhyme.”
Example Six: Before
• The Stone Boy and The Dangling Conversation both
explore the effects of lack of communication in
humans, adults, and children.
Example Six: After
• “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling Conversation”
both explore silence, the lack of relevant
communication between their protagonists,
ultimately revealing the psychological effects of
rejection.
Example Seven: Before
• “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling Conversation”
both relate fickle heart of humans. They both show
how readily a person will ignore the bond they have
with someone, turning into a “stranger” over things
they have left “dangling” or unspoken.
Example Seven: After
• “The Stone Boy” and “The Dangling Conversation”
both expose the fickle hearts of humans,
demonstrating the lengths some will go to ignore
previously-established bonds with loved ones,
ultimately isolating themselves and others by way of
their “dangling” or unspoken conversations.
Example Eight: Before
• In “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone
Boy” both discover the idea of what is the power of
communication and the question of what is not
enough.
Example Eight: After
• In “The Dangling Conversation” and “The Stone
Boy” characters discover the efficacious power of
communication when silence, through tragedy or
mere superficiality, overpowers them and they
retreat into isolation rather than expose their inner
thoughts, one to another.
Example Nine: Before
• “The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault and “The
Dangling Conversation” are very similar. Both
stories have conversations that need to be had, but
due to the awkwardness and pain surrounding the
conversation the characters in both stories hide
what they have to say. Ultimately causing more
pain and awkwardness for other characters.
Example Nine: After
• “The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault and “The
Dangling Conversation” both contain characters
paralyzed by awkwardness and emotional pain;
ultimately, due to their inability to communicate
their anguish, they are destined to live in perpetual
cycles of loneliness and despair.