In the fiction novel, In This Sign, Joanne Greenberg writes about the detailed troubles of a deaf couple and their hearing daughter as they age and the world around them changes. By writing this book, Greenberg helps many people view the deaf world’s perspective on what it is like for someone to struggle trying to fit in the hearing society. Throughout the book is something similar to a history lesson as well as being relative to most people’s lives. I say this because throughout the book, many people could compare their lives to the scenarios in the book and find it almost parallel. The story starts off with Janice and Abel during a winter long ago, dressed in summer clothing. People were looking at them funny because they weren’t dressed to the season, wearing bright clothes during a gloomy season. Abel reminisced about the summer, when they had gotten those clothes, and also reminded him of why they were still wearing them. Back in the summer, Abel had mistakenly bought a car from a dealership not understanding the liabilities that came with the purchase. After he had gotten into an accident, the court put Able and Janice thousands of dollars into debt, forcing the young couple to sell practically everything they owned and get expenses taken out of their paychecks. It dramatically changed their lives taking away most of the beauty from the world. This unfortunately led the couple to lose sight of the happiness they had being young and curious about “Outside”, leaving them only to focus on working and finding a way to survive off of hardly anything. Since Janice and Abel are deaf, it is hard to find a job with good pay to hire them because the deaf back then were frowned upon and considered dumb. Janice worked in a sewing mil... ... middle of paper ... ...o. They saw it as insulting because they fought their way out of misfortune and it seemed like he was less concerned about them as much as he was the black community. As the book comes to a close, Margarate, Janice, and Abel are all sitting around a table talking about Marshall and the impact he’s making. One by one they realize how they all fought their way through corruption in the world and poverty as well, laughing at the hard times that were now in the past. The ending was important because it shows that regardless of the situation or circumstances, the family made it out together, through rough times and the separation of being deaf in a hearing world. In conclusion, the story portrays that even though they were faced with the difficulties of being deaf in a hearing world, they succeeded in their own way, finally being joyful in the completion of the novel.
What’s that Pig Outdoors? is a memoir whose name easily captures the attention of the potential reader. Moreover, the story of the title captures an important theme in the narrative, which is that being deaf can sometimes lead to humorous (and sometimes not so humorous) misunderstandings. Henry Kisor, the author of the memoir has been deaf since age three. Still, he grew up in the hearing world as a lip-reader, and does not separate himself from the hearing culture in the slightest. While his disability can lead to said misunderstandings, it hasn’t stopped Kisor from living his life the way he wants and feels is best for him.
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
... his mother had passed in the “spring instead of the winter” their marriage “would not have happened” (Wharton 56). Deep irony and tragedy appears numerously throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator learns that the “smash-up” happened “twenty-four years ago from next February” (Wharton 3). After February comes springtime. Whenever Zeena leaves town to seek new advice from a new doctor, she often goes to a town called Springfield. The word “stark” means hard, bare and difficult, however outside of Starkfield “Springfield” exists where Zeena retrieves medicine and advice. The last time she went to Springfield she spent twenty dollars worth of Ethan’s money to pay for an electric battery, which she never used. Trips to Springfield are very costly and never cure Zeena’s illness. This shows how springtime and health is false hope for the Fromes.
The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well, then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in with everyone and eventually does find himself and realizes that being Deaf is not a disease, but just a part of who he is. About the time Mark was in kindergarten, he thought he was a normal child just like everyone else, but he started to distort things he heard in class and was wondering why everyone would be laughing and why he would be getting corrected.
The book A Loss for Words talks about what deaf people go through in their normal everyday life. It is the autobiography of the author showcasing the author’s experience with having deaf parents.
One area where I have trouble understanding is in Chapter 71: “What difficulties do Deaf people have...
She begins the journey of accepting herself as a deaf person and being deaf in her community. She experiences bullying and is really insecure about herself and the use of her hearing aids. She also took advantage a few times. There are two different types of the word deaf. Deaf with a capital D means that your language is American Sign Language and you can choose to sign all the time.
Deaf Again is another eye opening book about what it is like to grow up deaf in a hearing-dominant world. It showcases the struggles experienced by the Deaf, and shows the reader that the Deaf cannot be made to fit into their hearing world. The Deaf, once they find their identity as Deaf with a capital D, don’t want to fit into the hearing world. Being Deaf isn’t a bad thing. Deaf again has further shown me just how difficult life can be when you are deaf.
all through his life which resulted in a change in how he saw and interacted with white people.
With that knowledge the deaf character gained more confidence when communicating and was able to achieve bigger goals in their life then when they had little to no knowledge of how things worked in society. Reading about these characters just gave me a small insight into the deaf community but with the documentary ”Through Deaf Eyes,” has open my mind and eyes that they are people who can thrive in and change the world just as anyone can when they put their mind to
Have you ever felt like there was nothing that you can do for your child? In this book, Deaf Like Me, by Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley, I can see the journey that Lynn’s parents took to get her help. (Spradley & Spradley, 1978). This book was an excellent read. I really liked the way that they described the ways they tried to help Lynn to understand the world around her. The book, is a great asset for any family that might be unexpectedly put into a situation that they know nothing about such as a deaf child.
It deals with obstacles in life and the ways they are over come. Even if you are different, there are ways for everyone to fit in. The injustices in this book are well written to inform a large audience at many age levels. The book is also a great choice for those people who cheers for the underdogs. It served to illustrate how the simple things in life can mean everything.
Walker, L. A. (1986). A Loss for Words: The Story of Deafness in a Family. New York: Harper
In the book Seeing Voices, the author describes the world of the deaf, which he explores with extreme passion. The book begins with the history of deaf people in the United States of America, the horrible ways in which they had been seen and treated, and their continuing struggle to gain hospitality in the hearing world. Seeing Voices also examines the visual language of the deaf, sign language, which is as expressive and as rich as any spoken language. This book covers a variety of topics in deaf studies, which includes sign language, the neurology of deafness, the treatment of Deaf American citizens in history, and the linguistic and social challenges that the deaf community face. In this book, Oliver Sacks does not view the deaf as people having a condition that can be treated, instead he sees the deaf more like a racial group. This book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Oliver Sacks states a strong case for sign language, saying it is in fact a complete language and that it is as comprehensive as English, French, Chinese, and any other spoken language. He also describes the unhappy story of oralism (this is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech)) in deaf children’s education. In addition, the first part is about the history of deaf people as well as information about deafness. It also includes the author’s own introduction to the world of the deaf.
In today's times, it is possible for a deaf family to characterize themselves as an all American family. For many centuries hearing people classified deafness as a horrendous misfortune. As reported by a historian at the University of Iowa, Doug Baynton, in the early 1800's most of the deaf people in America lived in segregated rural areas from one another, and with little communication with the people around them. “They also had a limited understanding of what they could do – of their own possibilities. People with deaf children really had no idea of what their children could achieve” (Baynton, D., 2007).