58 pages • 1 hour read
Sara NovicTrue Biz
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Language
ASL and the value of language are a central conceit in the novel. At the story’s outset, Charlie finds herself at the beginning of a new phase in her life. She lives solely under the care of her father, enrolls in a Deaf boarding school, and learns a new language. Though Charlie has lived with a cochlear implant for many years, it does little to enhance her communication abilities, particularly in the hearing world. Forced to remain in a mainstream educational setting that is unwilling to cater to her needs, Charlie learns to adhere to the norms of the hearing world, reading lips and speaking with her mouth to communicate. Over time, the constant need to acclimate and appease her hearing counterparts instills in Charlie a deep-seated assumption that her existence is a burden. Without the tools to adequately express herself or connect with others, Charlie becomes accustomed to letting interactions with others—and her youth—pass her by.
Only after Charlie commits to learning ASL does she begins to make significant strides in her relationships, communication skills, and self-confidence. After struggling to keep up for the first few weeks at River Valley, Charlie slowly begins to notice major improvements. No longer afraid to make mistakes or risk being made fun of, she finds that her “language was burgeoning” (170). Her peers “snickered at her when she said something clunky” in class in the beginning, but “now they were patient with her” (172), a kindness that emboldens her to continue learning and improving. Charlie’s acceptance among her school peers and her embrace of the Deaf community and culture are the direct results of her ASL education. Without her newfound ability to communicate via sign, Charlie would not be able to forge new and meaningful relationships, such as those she has with Kayla and Austin. Not only does her ASL education enable her to make friends, but it also leads her to become “aware of how much she had believed the hearing world, the thousand little hatreds that had leeched into her being” (172). Being around other Deaf people and practicing her new language skills forces Charlie to recognize “the [feelings of] unworthiness” she grappled with for most of her life and the negative ways “she’d behaved…to chase down the sensation of belonging” (172). By practicing ASL and embracing this new mode of communication, she increases her sense of self-assurance, as “with each successful social interaction, Charlie accrued new slivers of self-confidence” (172).
Cochlear Implant
For most of her life, Charlie has lived with a cochlear implant, a small electronic device that enables her to perceive sound. Early in the novel, it is established that despite its intended function, Charlie is staunchly averse to her implant. It is a constant source of physical pain, and Charlie wishes “she could be rid of [it]” (16). Perhaps even greater than the bodily discomfort she endures at the hands of the device is the emotional strife it causes, particularly the conflict it creates between Charlie and her mother. Implanted at the direction of her mother when she was a child, the device was “her mother’s consolation prize, a sliver of hope Charlie might one day wake up” (16) with the ability to hear.
Throughout the novel, Charlie visits the doctor several times to undergo checkups regarding the state of her implant, from which she routinely experiences headaches, dizziness, and general fatigue. During each doctor’s visit, Charlie’s mother remains adamant about her desire for Charlie to keep the implant, despite the daily pain it causes. At one such appointment, it is revealed that the implant inside Charlie’s head was recalled because it could potentially result in a moisture leakage. Despite the potential danger the device poses to Charlie’s health, her mother remains steadfast in her insistence that Charlie continue to wear one, even if it means having another surgery. Charlie is not only completely opposed to the idea but also enraged, filled with “that full-body…molten anger” (314). She is irate not only about her mother’s unfailing advocacy for the implant but also about the doctors’ lack of communication about a very serious issue that could jeopardize her health. She realizes in this moment that “all the headaches, the struggles in school, they’d been somebody else’s failings” (314). For perhaps the first time in her life, Charlie recognizes that her cochlear implant represents more than her inability to hear; it also points to her inability as a minor to have autonomy over her body. This newfound rage over her powerlessness comes to a head after she suffers a fainting spell at the hands of her implant, which is promptly removed. Despite the emergency surgery performed to detach the device and save Charlie’s life, her mother inquires about the possibility of reimplanting. This insistence on reimplantation, despite the risks it may pose, suggests that Charlie’s mother remains concerned with making her daughter appear as hearing-adjacent as possible. For Charlie’s mother, the implant symbolizes the unspoken shame she harbors about her daughter’s deafness and the lengths to which she is willing to go to keep up pretenses.
For the Workmans, the cochlear implant has other implications. Austin—a proud fifth-generation Deaf person from a family that deeply values its roots in Deaf history and culture—is disdainful about the use of implants. When his parents reveal that they are considering implanting his baby sister, Skylar, he is incredulous, asking, “Why don’t you love her the way she is? Why do you have to drill a fucking hole in her head?” (285). Also present for the reveal are Austin’s grandparents, who pointedly ask his Deaf mother, “How could you allow this?” (284). That Austin and his grandparents have such a viscerally negative reaction and his parents are palpably tense when revealing the news points to their shared contempt for these devices. Charlie’s mother views the implant’s adjacency to hearing as positive, but the Workmans consider it an affront to deafness and Deaf culture.
Political Awareness
For most of her life, Charlie has lived with a cochlear implant, a small electronic device that enables her to perceive sound. Early in the novel, it is established that despite its intended function, Charlie is staunchly averse to her implant. It is a constant source of physical pain, and Charlie wishes “she could be rid of [it]” (16). Perhaps even greater than the bodily discomfort she endures at the hands of the device is the emotional strife it causes, particularly the conflict it creates between Charlie and her mother. Implanted at the direction of her mother when she was a child, the device was “her mother’s consolation prize, a sliver of hope Charlie might one day wake up” (16) with the ability to hear.
Throughout the novel, Charlie visits the doctor several times to undergo checkups regarding the state of her implant, from which she routinely experiences headaches, dizziness, and general fatigue. During each doctor’s visit, Charlie’s mother remains adamant about her desire for Charlie to keep the implant, despite the daily pain it causes. At one such appointment, it is revealed that the implant inside Charlie’s head was recalled because it could potentially result in a moisture leakage. Despite the potential danger the device poses to Charlie’s health, her mother remains steadfast in her insistence that Charlie continue to wear one, even if it means having another surgery. Charlie is not only completely opposed to the idea but also enraged, filled with “that full-body…molten anger” (314). She is irate not only about her mother’s unfailing advocacy for the implant but also about the doctors’ lack of communication about a very serious issue that could jeopardize her health. She realizes in this moment that “all the headaches, the struggles in school, they’d been somebody else’s failings” (314). For perhaps the first time in her life, Charlie recognizes that her cochlear implant represents more than her inability to hear; it also points to her inability as a minor to have autonomy over her body. This newfound rage over her powerlessness comes to a head after she suffers a fainting spell at the hands of her implant, which is promptly removed. Despite the emergency surgery performed to detach the device and save Charlie’s life, her mother inquires about the possibility of reimplanting. This insistence on reimplantation, despite the risks it may pose, suggests that Charlie’s mother remains concerned with making her daughter appear as hearing-adjacent as possible. For Charlie’s mother, the implant symbolizes the unspoken shame she harbors about her daughter’s deafness and the lengths to which she is willing to go to keep up pretenses.
For the Workmans, the cochlear implant has other implications. Austin—a proud fifth-generation Deaf person from a family that deeply values its roots in Deaf history and culture—is disdainful about the use of implants. When his parents reveal that they are considering implanting his baby sister, Skylar, he is incredulous, asking, “Why don’t you love her the way she is? Why do you have to drill a fucking hole in her head?” (285). Also present for the reveal are Austin’s grandparents, who pointedly ask his Deaf mother, “How could you allow this?” (284). That Austin and his grandparents have such a viscerally negative reaction and his parents are palpably tense when revealing the news points to their shared contempt for these devices. Charlie’s mother views the implant’s adjacency to hearing as positive, but the Workmans consider it an affront to deafness and Deaf culture.
