a man dies of the language gap · S2
Do not gag me, I have a terrible cold, my nose she is a brick of the snot, I have not the power to breathe through the nose, for the love of God please do not gag my mouth
Context
The book's blackest failure-to-connect: DuPlessis cooperates completely, gives up the safe combination and the hidden coins, and pleads with perfect clarity that a gag will kill him, and all of it lands on Gately as so much birdsong. There is no malice and no misunderstanding of intent, only a channel that cannot carry the message, French into an English ear, and the gap is lethal. A fully articulate man is killed by the plain fact that the person in the room cannot hear what he is saying.