In today's world, immigration and emigration have increased significantly. With this increased travel around the world, the lack of communication has many consequences. Without a common language, attempting to communicate is a difficult process. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair explores the consequences of language barriers through a new immigrant family. The Lithuanian family lacks the language skills required for their new life in America and daily life is a struggle. Problems born from lack of communication lead to the destruction of the family. Additionally, these issues eventually lead to devastation, manipulation, and cause mental and physical health issues. Thus, Sinclair presents the consequences they face due to inadequate communication in a negative light. The language barriers in the story seem to cause horrible and serious incidents to the characters. Additionally, in the short story “In the Waiting Room,” David Sedaris explores the consequences of his personal language barrier during his stay in Paris. He explores different incidents that he experienced due to his poor knowledge of the French language. Even as the consequences of his misfortune emerge, Sedaris transforms his personal stories into humorous stories. Thus, the approach taken by Sedaris reduces the severity of the consequences and makes the story more entertaining and engaging. While both texts use a story to demonstrate the flaws of poor communication, literary elements can be used to show the differences in the text. Therefore, Sedaris and Sinclair use similar techniques to express similar themes, but the difference in tone, point of view, and plot arrangement of the texts demonstrates the theme of the texts in contrasting ways. The tone of writing is used to...... middle of paper......address language barriers and outcomes in very different ways. By using a different pace in the stories, the results of language barriers are different. Sinclair uses pacing to create more serious consequences and Sedaris uses pacing to show different language barrier situations and different outcomes. Through different elements of the texts, the notion of language barrier is explored and illustrated. Works Cited Ahmed, Irfan. “Immigrant Consumer Experiences and Marketing Activities in the Early 20th Century: A Reading of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” » Sedaris, David. “Thoughts: In the waiting room.” The New Yorker September 18, 2006: n. page. Internet. February 26, 2014. Sinclair, Upton. The jungle. New York City, New York, USA: Doubleday, 1906. Print. Tam, Clarence C. "Migration and Health: Fact, Fiction, Art, Politics." Emerging themes in epidemiology 3.1 (2006): 1-15.