Communication

One of the main messages that Rose tries to convey throughout the book is that communication isn’t always something that is done verbally. Characters outside of the study don’t seem to understand that Fern was able to communicate with the family, especially with Rose. Rose mentions several times that she always understood what Fern was saying and would act as a translator. Lowell argued with their father that the experiment shouldn’t have been about Fern learning to communicate with humans, but if it was possible for humans to learn to communicate with Fern.

Throughout the book, Rose is constantly reading people based on their nonverbal cues. When she first meets Harlow she understands that Harlow isn’t acting out of rage. Everyone else in the cafeteria thinks she’s crazy, but Rose can see that she’s just putting on a performance because...