Transcript Words Left Unspoken

WORDS LEFT UNSPOKEN
By Leah Hager Cohen
BACKGROUND
Leah Hager Cohen lived for much of her
childhood at the Lexington School for the Deaf in
Queens, New York.
 Graduated from Columbia University School of
Journalism
 Instructor at Emerson College
in Boston.

THESIS STATEMENT
Impicit
 His being deaf didn’t hold him back from forming
relationships.

DOMINANT IMPRESSION
SENSORY LANGUAGE

“And he made sounds when he was eating,
sounds that, originating from other quarters,
would have drawn chiding or expulsion from the
table. He smacked his lips and sucked his teeth’
his chewing was moist and percussive; he
released deep hushed moans from the back of his
throat, like a dreaming dog” (153).
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
“But his hands remained lithe, vital. As he teased
and argued and chatted and joked, they were the
instruments of his mind, the conduits of his
thoughts” (154)
 Personification

DETAIL

“”My grandmother and the rest of the family were walking
a half block ahead; I hung back and made myself take my
grandfather’s hand. We didn’t look at each other. His hand
was warm and dry. His gait was uneven then, a long slow
beat on the right, catch-up on the left. I measured my steps
to his. It was dark except for the hazy pink cones of light
cast by the streetlamps. I found his rhythm, and breathed
it in” (155)
OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION

“As far as anyone knows, Samual Kolominsky
was born deaf (according to Lexington records,
his parents ‘failed to take note until child was
about one and a half years old’). His birthplace
was Russia, somewhere near Kiev. Lexington
records say he was born in 1908…” (155)
SUBJECTIVE

“He died before I was really able to converse in
sign. I have never seen his handwriting. I once
saw his teeth, in a glass, on the bathroom
windowsill. Now everything seems like a clue”
(155)
OUR FAVORITE SENTENCE

“I found his rhythm, and breathed in it. That was
the longest conversation we ever had” (155)