Charlie’s hearing aid
Charlie’s hearing aid that, for the most part, doesn’t work is symbolic of the oppression and discrimination against deaf people. At the insistence of her mother, she keeps wearing it, despite it even slowly starting to cause her pain. It is a symbol of her mother’s refusal to accept her for who she is, refusal to accept her disability. Even after the hearing aid almost causes her serious harm by electrocuting her, her mother still insists on re-installing a new one.
Language
Language is a strong motif in the novel. The importance of language is revealed throughout and clearly represented in Charlie. Coming to the River Valley school for deaf students, Charlie’s confidence and self-esteem has been damaged by her difficulties to communicate with other people. After she begins to slowly, but surely, learn the sign language, she becomes more confident and open to other people.
Sound
The novel opens up with a story from February’s school days, how she stabbed herself in the ear to escape the sounds. February grew up in a household with both deaf parents, meaning that sound was not a concept of importance. From this opening anecdote can be derived the use of the motif of sound as a way to explain the conceptualization of experiencing and giving importance to a phenomenon vs. not grasping or not giving the importance to it having not experienced it. The novel primarily focuses on deaf individuals who were born like that, meaning that they haven’t experienced sound; therefore, the concept of sound is not something that plays a huge role in their life.
