Children of a Lesser God: Analysis of Major Characters
"Children of a Lesser God" explores the complex dynamics between its major characters, particularly focusing on the relationship between James Leeds and Sarah Norman. James, a passionate speech teacher, is drawn to Sarah, a deaf maid known for her intelligence and defiance against societal expectations. Their initial connection, marked by a playful battle of wits, evolves into a marriage fraught with challenges as James struggles to accept Sarah's identity, pressuring her to conform to his expectations of communication.
Sarah, fiercely independent and resistant to change, ultimately confronts both James and Orin Dennis, a fellow student who seeks to rally support for reform within the school. Her journey reflects a deep desire for autonomy and respect, leading her to assert that she will not be molded by others. Supporting characters, such as Sarah's estranged mother and the skeptical Mr. Franklin, further illuminate the societal pressures and personal struggles surrounding the deaf community. This narrative not only highlights the challenges of communication across different forms of expression but also emphasizes the importance of embracing individuality in relationships.
Children of a Lesser God: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Mark Medoff
First published: 1980
Genre: Play
Locale: A state school for the deaf
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1970's
James Leeds, a speech teacher at a state school for the deaf. A sensitive, caring, and charismatic teacher in his thirties, James finds himself challenged by Sarah Norman, a sarcastic and rebellious maid at the school whom the headmaster has asked James to help in his spare time. Matching her sarcasm with his own wit and with unorthodox methods of instruction, James attracts her to him and is in turn attracted by her beauty and intelligence. Engaging in a battle of wits via sign language, they fall in love and get married, against the warnings of the headmaster. Despite his attempts to understand Sarah and her point of view, James insists on trying to make her over, pressuring her to learn to read lips and to speak rather than remain entirely dependent on sign language. When a fellow student, Orin Dennis, engages in a battle with James and tries to recruit Sarah into his militant program of reform, she rejects them both, stating that she is her own person. If James is to win her back, he must accept her on her own terms. He learns the damage his attempts to remake her have caused, acknowledges his love and need for her, and attempts a reconciliation.
Sarah Norman, a twenty-six-year-old maid at a state school for the deaf. Deaf since birth, Sarah is estranged from her mother and rebellious against the world. She is highly intelligent but uses her wits only for sarcastic retorts against anyone who tries to intrude into her privacy. Physically beautiful, she has used her sexuality as a way to communicate with the opposite sex but has found her brief relationships meaningless. When James engages her on her own terms in a battle of wits, she reluctantly falls in love with him and marries him, only to find that he is unable to respect her refusal to learn to read lips and speak and thereby give up what he calls her “angry deaf person's license.” When she becomes a battleground between her husband and Orin Dennis in the latter's war against school regulations and organization, she leaves her husband, insisting that she will not be manipulated and will not be “the creation of other people.” Only if her husband can let her be the individual that she is, coming into her silence to know her, will she return to him.
Orin Dennis, a student in his twenties at the state school for the deaf. He has some residual hearing and can lip read. Temperamentally militant, Orin is wary of James and hostile to the headmaster. He tries to manipulate Sarah and Lydia into joining his attack on the school organization and authority.
Mrs. Norman, Sarah's mother. Abandoned by her husband when Sarah was a little girl, she has been unable to cope with her daughter's handicap and complex personality, with the result that Sarah ran away when she was eighteen. James helps bring about a tentative reconciliation between them.
Mr. Franklin, in his thirties or forties, the supervising teacher at the state school for the deaf. Alternately pompous and congenial, he is skeptical about James's approach to Sarah and even more skeptical of the success of their marriage, of which he disapproves. A bureaucrat, he bristles when his authority is challenged.
Lydia, in her late teens, a student at the state school for the deaf. A lip reader with some residual hearing, Lydia is infatuated with James and is manipulated by Orin.
Edna Klein, in her thirties, a lawyer recruited by Orin to assist in his attempts to reform the power structure at the state school for the deaf.