When Silence Becomes a Tactic: Language, Voice and Withheld Expression in Lovelace’s Salt

Abstract

Language is considered a channel for communication, while silence represents a vacuum or powerlessness. But sometimes, silence holds the power to act against a system by itself becoming a strategic conscious act. Thus, it transforms into an agency but not an absence. Salt by Earl Lovelace is a Trinidadian novel that delves deep into analysing silence as a tool of power rather than a mere voicelessness or trauma. It works as a strategy to express the presence at the right moment, while silence functions as a tactic of survival, withdrawal and political awareness in postcolonial Trinidad. This study reveals how unspoken expression can be powerful  in a system which is largely based on linguistic control. This study draws on postcolonial and cultural theory to analyse the role of linguistics in the work. In Salt, silence acts as a multi-dimensional phenomenon where it is not simply what is unsaid but what is deliberately left unsaid. It argues that silence serves as a potent strategy of resistance, survival, and identity in the novel rather than as a passive absence. The character used for this study in Trinidad’s postcolonial setting uses silence to exhibit agency in a colonially traumatised society, defend cultural and personal identity, and oppose language dominance. Silence becomes a deliberate mode of communication within a political setup and cultural significance rather than a symptom of voicelessness.