Language and the Enormity of Experience

Initially upon thinking of the past pieces of literature I’ve read in my life, this question seemed clear to me that language can almost capture the enormity of experience; however, it will still always be impossible to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” completely. Through infinite description, one can empathize with a character and imagine oneself imbedded in the story, but they will never develop the terrifying or incredible memories that the author may have gone through or written about. I believe it is possible to become completely enveloped in a story and think you know exactly what it feels like to be that person, but it is truly impossible to go through the same experience and live that storyline enough to match the exact feelings of the character.
When I think about the impact of language on a reader, I think of the time I read the book Where the Red Fern Grows in my childhood. Never has a book affected me so much, that I could not keep myself from crying throughout the entire ending. Though I knew it was just a fictional book, for some reason I sympathized so much for the boy and his dogs. To me this was a book that knew its audience, and knew how to communicate effectively to deliver a feeling that could incorporate all the right emotions to truly impact the reader. Hypothetically, though, if this was a true story, I still do not believe that it would be possible to understand the connections and relationships between the characters or the impact of the events, without being there—seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing every interaction taking place.
Likewise, earlier in the semester we heard about the story of Joannie Rochette, who lost her mother before a big Winter Olympic performance. Needless to say, no one will ever relate to the immensity of her experience without having lived it, even through countless interviews and articles about the incident. Her experiences are too unique for anyone to fully understand it through language because it involves all of the senses to fully encompass the entirety of the event.
I believe the impact of language can only go so far. It can evoke empathy and several emotions, but I don’t think it can fully describe the enormity of the experience itself. To be able to say you know exactly how a person feels when their loved one dies is actually rather insensitive because it is impossible to put yourself in someone’s shoes completely. Events can affect one person completely different than the next, and language can often hide or forget about the little aspects of the experience that can only come from being in the situation at the time.