Two Words By Isabel Allende: The Influence Of Words On A Person

Words can have a very powerful impact and influence towards someone. The words we all exchange daily can have a tremendous influence towards what we feel and do, weather that would be in a negative or positive way. It is also interesting that the words that can leverage us to feel or act a certain way aren’t traded discriminately, meaning size, colour, ethnicity, and background wouldn’t manipulate the impact words that are transacted upon. In the short story “Two Words” a perfect example is seen as a poor woman manages to reform a previously obnoxious warlord into a loving-diligent president through the power of her words, with the eventual outcome of establishing a loving relationship between the two.

In “Two words” Col. has reached a sense of saturation. Known to be a notorious warlord while being widely feared, he was vastly despised by the population. He had envisioned for himself to be adored and admired, and to be reintegrated into society, but felt very empty as he didn’t know how to follow through with his wish. Soon enough, he oddly seeks the help of a local poor woman who could care less when her next meal was and would fulfill her passion of enriching and selling her words of literature, her name was Belissa. Belissa came from a very rough background, and had a very unfortunate childhood. She had survived countless floods and droughts while she would starve her way through. She eventually manages to make her way through the plains and across the water where she establishes an occupation for herself that arose from her passion, selling words. Through her, he had received help in writing a presidential speech he would recite at the presidential election. The speech would result in the Col. beloved by the people. Soon after Belissa had completed her task, she had passed on two words to the Col. that lingered his brain, and woke up his heart. The two words left him bursting in joy obsessifying himself over what he had heard. Against all odds, both Belissa and the Col. had found their calling, love. The unlikely couple had enjoyed and treasured each other’s presence while Belissa had succeeded in implanting a loveable and enjoyable character into a man who seen as the complete opposite near the beginning of the story. Through these affairs, the Col. Character has seen a major shift within itself, as he had started off as an atrocious lousy man who was transformed into superb and exceptional, courtesy of Belissa.

I have experienced first-hand the power of words, and in a unfortunate way. Ever since I was a little boy, I have always let words manipulate my state of mind and shift my mood into a positive or negative state. Unfortunately, I have always been a victim of words easily being to affect me. Throughout many years of living, I have observed that similar words and phrases said onto other individuals don’t trigger the same response that I would have, leading me to believe that I personally have the grudge of not letting go of the past. There was one instance where I had failed a math test in the fifth grade. Bitter and broken, I would sit there restlessly while resembling a dogs face when it is sad. I vividly remember a fellow student walking by and comparing his superior grade to mine, he was bragging in front of my face and endlessly calling me lousy names. I lost it and proceeded to cry, not from a physical but rather from a few verbal setbacks. It was only a few moments later that a friend lectured me into believing that what the bully said had no relevance to myself at all, and I let it bother me to the extent that I did, fortunately enough I was able to get my head around it but I extracted a traumatizing life reality. It then struck me then and there, that words can have powerful control over you. They can have the same effects as physical encounters. I live day by day constantly reminded that day to day words affect me and hold a tremendous amount of power. For myself and the Col., words have been able to change us, influence us, and impact us. They put us at our highs and lows, and encourage or discourage us.

The Col. story has showcased that of how he has had an uprise within himself while I have experienced the sudden upbringing after a negative setback, we should start to think a little longer on what the words that come out of our mouth are. It is important to evaluate the words we say to others on whether they are interpreted as negative or positive and to also acknowledge the significance they hold.