Friday, June 15, 2012

Best deaf fictional characters

There are few deaf characters in fiction that are well know but when they are portrayed they are often portrayed rather well. The physical characteristic of deafness is sometimes explored in depth from the deaf person's perspective while sometimes only from those around them. In other instances there is almost no exploration of deafness at all and the character is who and what s/he is.


Personally, I like a little of each as all perspectives are interesting in their own way and enlightening. Having witnessed my grandfather going deaf over the years, struggling with those dang blasted ear pieces that don't pick up sounds properly (the grumbling continues), it does make me curious as to what life would be like for me if I get what he has. This also makes me wonder what life is like for those deaf from birth as well as those who care for them. 


But enough of curiosity. Out of all the characters I've read or seen the one that tops them all never has his deafness explored at all. He just is what he is and he's the fabulously nutty Professor Calculus.


Professor Calculus (Tintin)

Echo aka Ronin

Hawkeye aka Goliath, Ronin and Clint Barton

Ben Mitchell (EastEnders)

Quasimodo ( The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo)

The Deaf Man (criminal mastermind from the 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain aka Evan Hunter)

Devin Hamilton (The Young And The Restless)

Drury Lane (fictional detective by Ellery Queen)

Spike Lavery (All My Children)

Linda (Sesame Street)

Josephine "Joey" Lucas (The West Wing)

Emma Coolidge (Heroes)

Kim Schuster (Peyton Place)

Benjamin "Benjy" Hawk (Days Of Our Lives)

Benjamin Richard Parker (Spider Man's son)

No comments:

Post a Comment