SuitabookShow Me a Sign
Ann Clare LeZotte
- Reading
- Read alongside discussion of who gets to define what is “normal”. Pause over Mary’s safety, choices and community support; distinguish the story’s historical prejudices from the values it invites readers to question.
- Themes
- Deaf community and dignity: Mary grows up in a Martha’s Vineyard community where many people are Deaf and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. The story presents Deaf community and Mary’s demand for respect as central to her identity and struggle.
- Scientific curiosity and control: The thread considers how scientific investigation can conflict with a person’s dignity when that person is treated as an object. The experiment is clearly framed as cruel, inviting scrutiny of research that treats a person as an object rather than respecting her dignity.
- Prejudice across communities: The story includes tensions between English settlers and Wampanoag people, alongside negative assumptions about Deaf people and wider racial tensions. Mary’s perspective is described as confronting prejudice, while the novel acknowledges that she cannot fix every social problem.
- Worth knowing
- The historical setting includes tensions involving English settlers, Wampanoag people and Black residents; discussion may benefit from context about racism and ableism.