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Love is Never Silent

The 1985 movie “Love is Never Silent” is based on Joanne Greenberg’s novel, In This Sign. The

drama written by Darlene Craviotto and produced by Marian Rees is set during the great

depression and follows Margaret Ryder's family, Abel and Janice, two deaf parents to Margaret

and Bradley. Margaret’s father Able works for a newspaper company while her mother Janice is

a seamstress. The deaf parents rely on their daughter Margaret Ryder to connect them to the

hearing world.

 As the movie begins, the family is hit by a tragedy as the family’s youngest child Bradley

accidentally falls from the balcony and dies. Margaret is the only child and also the only one who

can hear in the family. She now has a heavier responsibility for taking care of her deaf parents.

She goes with her parents to buy a ‘wooden box’ to bury her brother because at the moment she

cannot afford a coffin. Margaret bears the bigger responsibility of communicating the world to

her deaf parents. In one scene her father asks her what sound the sun produces because it is said

that the sunbeams fall on the ground. This is heartbreaking and shows how much responsibility

Margaret has amid her being young and inexperienced. Margaret is taken out of school whenever

her parents have a struggle with hearing the world. Margaret seems to live a solitary life having

only one friend, Mr. Petrakis, a store owner who gives her family whatever they need for free.

He is the only person who knows that her parents are deaf.
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Later in the movie Margaret graduates and it is at this point where classmates and their parents

discover that her parents are deaf. Her only friend Mr. Petrakis gives her a radio as a graduation

gift. She gets so excited that she takes the radio home, plugs it in and starts dancing with his

father. This doesn’t go well with the mother as she plugs it out to cook, as she indicates that it is

not important. Later she secures a secretary job, though she remains committed as she gets

portrayed to continue being a link between her deaf parents and the hearing world.  Although

society misunderstands the deaf community, the movie portrays people who accept individuals’

differences. The store owner Mr. Petrakis explains to Margaret that he listens to the radio so he

can learn to speak English better.

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