Children of a Lesser God (Style)

Style

Setting

Children of a Lesser God is a drama set “in the mind of James Leeds.” Characters in the play step from his memory for a few lines or an entire scene. There are two “places” where the action occurs: the State School for the Deaf and James Leeds’s house across the road. In Act I, time is “fluid.” Scenes from past and present blend together often without the audience realizing what has happened. In Act II, the sense of time is more linear, although not completely so; there is more of a sense that one scene comes to a conclusion before another scene begins. The audience is better able to follow plot movement as the action progresses from the card party to James’s frustration of serving as Sarah’s constant interpreter to the complaint before the Commission to the climactic scene in which James forces Sarah to speak. The lack of a set and the use of few props beyond a chalkboard and some benches allow characters to come and go easily.

Flashback

Because the action of the play takes place “in the mind of James Leeds,” time does not always move forward. Scenes from the past, like the visit to Mrs. Norman’s house in Act I, weave themselves into the fabric of the action. The entire play can be seen as a flashback: the actions and words of the beginning of the play come back again near the end.

Imagery

“Deafness isn’t the opposite of hearing. . . . It is a silence full of sounds.” This is the central image of the play. Sarah tries to show James that the relationship between the deaf and hearing worlds is not an “either-or” situation, but rather one with its own distinct and unique possibilities and components.

Much of the imagery of this play is not contained in the words of the characters but rather in the sign language they employ. Sign language in this play provides both visual and verbal imagery for the same idea. “Join, unjoined” is the principal sign image, used at both the beginning and end of the action (and also graphically represented on the cover of some print editions of the text of the play).

Language

The story that takes place in Children of a Lesser God is told primarily using two languages, spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL), although a third variety, Signed English, is present as well. ASL is a conceptual and pictorial language, and Signed English is more grammatical and dependent on word order — one sign equals one word — for meaning.

When Sarah “speaks” her lines in this play during conversations with James, James provides a simultaneous translation from ASL to spoken English. However, when James speaks to Sarah, he signs what he says (unless he is purposely excluding her from the conversation) using Signed English. When James speaks to Orin and Lydia who can both lip-read, James does not sign; he enunciates carefully. Mr. Franklin, who as the supervising teacher at the State School for the Deaf is a competent signer, refuses to sign for Sarah’s benefit, forcing James into the role of continual interpreter. Mrs. Norman has struggled to learn sign language but has not been successful.

Edna Klein knows no sign language and is quite proud that she has learned to sign “How. Are. You?” and “I. Am. Fine”; Sarah, Orin, and James are unimpressed by her efforts. James points out that Edna must be precise in her hand placement or she will say the opposite of what she intended. This illustrates that hearing people often view ASL as “cute,” a diversion along the lines of a party game. Sarah’s reaction to this particular scene (“More cuteness?”) underscores the feeling deaf people have that their language is not taken seriously.

Compare & Contrast

• Early 1980s: Deaf schools are run by hearing administrators, many of whom know no sign language.
  Today: Many schools for the deaf, including Gallaudet University, now have deaf leaders.
• Early 1980s: People with hearing handicaps are routinely discriminated against for jobs, in housing, and in access to services.
  Today: With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, hearing impaired individuals have the necessary leverage to find success in the job market, obtain decent housing, and utilize a wide range of services to assist them in pursuit of their goals.