Song for a Whale, penned by a seasoned sign language interpreter, is more than just a children’s story; it’s a poignant exploration of communication, deafness, and the profound desire to be heard. This tender narrative introduces us to Iris, a deaf middle schooler, and Blue 55, a whale singing at an unusual frequency, setting the stage for a moving tale of connection and understanding.
Iris, feeling isolated in her hearing world, discovers Blue 55, a whale whose unique song sets him apart from his pod. She sees a reflection of her own experiences in Blue 55’s solitude and becomes determined to reach out to him. With her deaf grandmother by her side, Iris embarks on a journey to the Oregon coast, carrying with her a song crafted to resonate with Blue 55, a testament to her belief that even in silence, voices can connect.
This story immediately tugs at the heartstrings, a testament to Lynne Kelly’s masterful storytelling. The emotional depth of Song for a Whale stems from its focus on a child and an animal, but its true power lies in Kelly’s nuanced portrayal of communication complexities, particularly concerning deafness and the world of sound.
Iris’s experience of deafness is deeply personal. While her family is hearing, her grandparents are deaf, although her grandmother has retreated into isolation after her grandfather’s passing. Iris navigates a hearing school with an interpreter, while her deaf friend Wendell attends a school for the Deaf. This contrast highlights Iris’s yearning for community and understanding. Her feelings of being unheard mirror Blue 55’s isolation. Kelly interweaves brief chapters from Blue 55’s perspective, depicting his lonely journey through the ocean, his song misunderstood by other whales. Marine biologists are fascinated by Blue 55, eager to study his unique song and migration patterns. It’s through a documentary in science class that Iris learns about Blue 55, sparking an immediate connection and a dream of communicating with him, of letting him know he is heard.
While Iris’s adventure to find Blue 55 drives the plot, Deaf culture is the bedrock of the narrative. This is a crucial aspect of the book, especially for those interested in understanding Deaf perspectives within fiction. Song for a Whale ultimately explores fundamental themes:
- Being heard,
- Having a voice,
- Sound’s relationship to communication.
These themes are intrinsically woven into the fabric of Deaf culture, offering hearing readers a valuable glimpse into a different way of experiencing the world.
The Ache to Be Heard: Iris and Blue 55’s Shared Isolation
The desire to be heard, to have one’s unique voice acknowledged and valued, resonates deeply within Song for a Whale. Both Iris and Blue 55 yearn for this understanding. At home, Iris often feels unheard by her parents, despite their basic knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). When Iris shares her dream of finding Blue 55 and playing her song, her parents dismiss her, citing school and the long distance. The conversation shifts, and Iris is left feeling disregarded. Her father’s use of idioms, which don’t translate directly into ASL, further isolates her. When she asks for an explanation, she’s met with another idiom, “The train has left the station,” deepening her frustration and exclusion.
This dinner table scene encapsulates Iris’s daily struggle. When she tries to explain why such communication barriers are hurtful, she signs too quickly for her father to follow. His request to slow down triggers a powerful outburst:
“It doesn’t matter what I do. You don’t understand anyway! What if your whole life was like this? What if you were that whale, in an ocean with no one to talk to?”
This poignant question reveals the depth of Iris’s isolation and draws a direct parallel to Blue 55’s solitary existence. It echoes historical experiences within the Deaf community, where being unheard has had significant consequences.
Consider the story of Letitia Ford, a 14-year-old deaf student at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in the 19th century. When Letitia and other students were abused by the principal, David G. Seixas, their voices were nearly silenced. The school board, comprised of hearing individuals unfamiliar with sign language, struggled to understand the students’ testimonies, relying instead on interpretations from matrons. This reliance on hearing intermediaries diluted the students’ accounts, hindering justice.
As Carol Padden and Tom Humphries highlight in Inside Deaf Culture, “When the students were deprived of a voice of their own, David Seixas could claim that the directors had misunderstood the young women’s pantomime, or that the matron was ill-disposed against Seixas.” This historical example underscores how denying someone a voice, particularly within institutional structures, can lead to silencing and disempowerment.
Iris’s experience at the dinner table mirrors this historical silencing. She feels unheard and controlled by her hearing parents, authority figures in her life. Her father’s dismissive idioms and the rejection of her dream to find Blue 55 unintentionally silence her, locking her out of meaningful communication. Her parents, in controlling her actions, also disregard her emotional needs and desires. This creates a profound sense of being unheard, a feeling deeply rooted in the historical and ongoing experiences of Deaf culture.
Finding Agency: The Voice of Self-Determination
Being heard is intrinsically linked to having a voice, to self-determination, a central theme in Song for a Whale. “Voice,” in this context, signifies the ability to make autonomous decisions that align with one’s needs and desires, even when they differ from others’ opinions. This concept is vividly illustrated through the discussion of schooling in the book.
Iris’s friend Wendell thrives at a Deaf school, immersed in a community of Deaf peers, teachers, and administrators. Iris, however, attends a hearing school where she is the minority. Wendell and Iris’s grandmother advocate for Iris to transfer to a Deaf school, emphasizing the importance of Deaf community. However, Iris’s hearing mother, driven by anxieties about “losing her daughter” to Deaf culture, resists this change. This conflict underscores the theme of voice – of self-determination.
While Song for a Whale doesn’t delve deeply into the complexities of Deaf schools, it highlights Iris’s longing for a Deaf educational environment. At her hearing school, Iris relies solely on her interpreter for communication and understanding. A Deaf school promises a space where she can be fully heard, fostering a sense of belonging and community with others who share her language and experiences. Iris’s mother’s resistance stems from a lack of understanding and appreciation for Deaf culture as a vibrant and valid cultural identity.
As Inside Deaf Culture points out, “There was almost no place in public consciousness for his hard-earned realization that Deaf people led rich social lives…” This “rich social life” within Deaf culture is precisely what Iris craves. Convincing her mother requires challenging deeply ingrained misconceptions and anxieties. Her mother’s fear that Iris will no longer need her if she becomes more connected to Deaf community further complicates the situation. Ultimately, Iris desires her family’s trust in her ability to make decisions about her own life as a deaf individual, regardless of their fears or preconceived notions.
Iris’s deafness creates communication complexities within her hearing family. While her family desires effective communication, they may mistakenly believe that assimilation into hearing culture is the best path for Iris. Iris, however, already navigates the hearing world effectively, communicating in various ways depending on the context. The challenge lies not in Iris adapting further to hearing culture, but in her parents embracing and validating Deaf culture as equally valuable.
Beyond Sound: Redefining Communication
Blue 55’s inability to communicate with other whales due to his unique 55 Hz song frequency raises profound questions about the nature of communication itself. Similarly, Iris, while capable of communicating with hearing individuals, often finds it challenging and not always in her native language, ASL. The scientists studying Blue 55 even consider the possibility of his deafness, drawing a parallel to Iris. This prompts a crucial examination of how sound is perceived and interpreted in communication, especially within Deaf culture.
A common misconception among hearing individuals is that deaf people live in a world devoid of sound. However, as Deaf scholars Carol Padden and Tom Humphries explain, this assumption is inaccurate and often rooted in hearing people’s anxieties about hearing loss. Deaf people do have a relationship with sound, albeit one that differs from hearing individuals.
“In any discussion of deaf people’s knowledge of sound, it is important to keep in mind that perception of sound is not automatic or straightforward, but is shaped through learned, culturally-defined practices.”
Sound interpretation is culturally and linguistically shaped. There isn’t a single, universal way to engage with sound. Even without hearing, sound can be experienced through vibrations, visual cues, and other sensory inputs. However, the hearing world often equates deafness with silence, and silence with a lack of connection to the world.
According to Inside Deaf Culture, “To hearing people the metaphor of silence portrays what they believe to be the dark side of Deaf people, not only an inability to use sound for human communication, but a failure to know the world directly.” This perspective devalues Deaf culture’s unique interpretation of sound and communication. Iris intuitively understands the parallel between her experience and Blue 55’s. Both are judged by the hearing world for their different communication styles, pitied for seemingly being unable to navigate a “world of sound.”
Iris’s song for Blue 55 transcends a simple expression of affection; it’s a powerful declaration against these assumptions. It asserts that communication extends far beyond hearing or not hearing. It’s a language of connection that demands time, empathy, and a willingness to understand different modes of expression. If Iris can bridge the gap to communicate with a whale through her song, then communication between hearing and Deaf individuals is undoubtedly possible. It requires acknowledging that sound interpretation is not monolithic and embracing the richness of diverse communicative experiences.
Song for a Whale is a deeply moving and insightful book that offers a window into Deaf culture and the universal desire for connection. Iris’s journey and her song for Blue 55 serve as a powerful reminder that communication exists in many forms, and that being heard and having a voice are fundamental human needs, regardless of how we experience sound. For those seeking a deeper understanding of Deaf culture and the power of communication beyond spoken language, Song for a Whale is an essential and enriching read.
