Words Left Unspoken

When a story is trying to influence readers of the author's way of thinking, there are several ways to convince the reader that the viewpoint is the right thing to do - capturing the reader's sympathy with detail examples and facts, and the author's tone leaving the reader teary-eyed with compassion way long after the story is finished. Leah Hager Cohen's "Words Left Unspoken" wants people to understand that being deaf may hinder a person, but it can also amplify life in an extraordinary way. Cohen's goal is to convince the readers that deafness is not an infirmity but a cultural identity; however, Cohen failed to deliver the featured and the finishing touch. It did tap on detailed descriptions of her grandfather that captured the reader's sympathy, which also led to frustration and disappointment. In the story, "Words Lefts Unspoken," Leah Hager Cohen wrote detailed and enjoyable observations of her deaf grandfather presented in a melancholy kind of narration, and even with moments of heart-felt instances, the story doesn't keep the warmth as it reach the finale, leaving the reader with a feeling of discontent.

Leah Cohen starts with a joyful moment and ends it in sad and dreary mood. The author narrates, "He would lift us grandchildren up, most frequently by the elbows, and nuzzle our cheeks vigorously. This abrasive ritual greeting was our primary means of communication." The author's effective use of details creates motion picture in the reader's head, catching the reader's interest, but the negative ending disappoints the reader. "This abrasive ritual greeting was our primary means of communication" sounds like regret that she didn't learn any other way to communicate with her grandfather and thus creating an unexciting mood.

Another example of Leah H. Cohen's writing style is the part when her grandfather plays with them. She wrote how "He could make nickels disappear, just vanish, from both his fists and up his sleeves; we never found them, no matter how we crawled over him, searching. All this without any words." Hager Cohen gave a vivid description of her observations but she did not paint a clear picture of what he might have been thinking, or feeling. Was he happy? Or annoyed? Or was he playing with them because there's nothing else better to do? Again, the author might have answered the questions by her melancholy

...