Communication (Happiness)

Sometimes the hardest thing to do with people you love is communicate openly and honestly with them. Time and again in Savvy though (and in life), we see good communication leading to happiness—and on the flip side, we see bad communication leading to unhappiness. So anytime you see folks sending each other messages in one way or another, be sure to note how open they are with each other. It will clue you into whether they're happy people or not.

Rosemary's Babies

Let's take a look at Miss Rosemary. She plays the part of dutiful pastor's wife, going to church every Sunday and attempting to have a firm hand on her children in hopes of raising them so they turn out to be good people. Sounds good, right? Meh.

The problem is that Miss Rosemary isn't very good about communicating with the people whose lives she's trying to control. She assumes she knows what's best for the people in her family, but the more she doesn't talk to them and the more she tries to control them, the more they act out. For instance, Miss Rosemary is intent on making Bobbi into the young woman that she wants her to be, but Bobbi fiercely resists:

I couldn't fathom how Bobbi had managed to get a tattoo. I knew that if Miss Rosemary, the woman with direct connections to heaven and the ability to get God Almighty to help her plan my birthday party, if she ever found out, Bobbi might not make it to her own next birthday part, nor up to heaven to get her very own halo either. (6.20)

Though we later learn that the tattoo is fake, Bobbi's intention behind wearing it is to rebel against the image her mother so desperately wants for her daughter. We never see Miss Rosemary ask Bobbi about her hopes, dreams, or fears, and because of this these two aren't close. And though Bobbi ultimately lets her guard down with Mibs and starts to communicate openly, ultimately Miss Rosemary is a kind of tragic character. Without open lines of communication with other people, we're thinking she's probably pretty lonely. What do you think?

Break On Through To The Other Side

In contrast, look at Momma Beaumont—she actually talks to her kids about things that matter to them and her kids tend to be happier with the way things are. Plus she's interested in what makes her kids unique, instead of expecting them to conform to her ideas about how they should be (unlike Miss Rosemary). As Momma says:

"[…] you'll not only obscure your savvy completely, but most everything else in life will become dull and uninteresting for you too. You can't get rid of part of what makes you you and be happy." (21.3)

Momma knows how important being yourself is to being a happy person, and she wants to get to know her kids in all of their quirky individuality. The Beaumonts are a pretty communicative, and therefore, happy family. Perhaps this is because they're already isolated from society a bit by their super powers, whereas Miss Rosemary finds herself at the center of a church community, trying desperately to stay the course.

Can you find other examples of good and bad communicators? What about Lill and Lester? Throughout this book communication is key to developing and maintaining good relationships, and where it's lacking, people go haywire.