Commentary: Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

I read Jacqueline Woodson's middle-grade book Feathers as a part of my research regarding Deaf and signing representation in Fiction. I could not be more impressed with this book, not just for its representation, but also for its beautiful writing, its meaningful storytelling, and its richness of character. 

Feathers is set in the early 1970s-- the Vietnam War era. Middle school-aged Frannie lives with her mom, dad, and older brother, Sean, who is Deaf. Frannie is stubborn, perceptive, and wise for her age. She experiences sadness and gloom, as well as worry about her mother's newest pregnancy after a series of miscarriages. Frannie and her family live on one side of a major highway, which acts as a dividing line between the White and the Black neighborhoods. There are very few White characters in this book-- a refreshing reading experience. The only White character is the so-called "Jesus Boy", the new kid at school. Paired with his long hair, the boy's quiet demeanor and his adult certainty about things make him feel like Jesus to the other kids. He is seen as an outsider-- a White kid in a Black school. Come to find out, Jesus Boy is raised by two Black parents-- adopted. The conflict of identities plays a role in his relationships with other kids, especially the bullies. Colorism and race are central to the children's worlds and perspectives. The highway-- this mythic creature stretching across their world--  acts as a porthole, but not a very permeable one. When Jesus Boy moves to their school, he came from the other side of the highway and his arrival is marked as unusual and rare. Sean looks out their bedroom window at the highway and speaks to his desire to cross it, just to see what the unknown is like. And this desire intersects with Sean's deafness too. Just like with the highway, Sean wants to experience both the Deaf and the Hearing world-- to date the girls he wants to date, to have the power to go where he wants to go, and to grasp at autonomy; a part of growing up. 

With intentional consideration, Woodson presents Sean to the reader and, by conduit, she is introducing us to deafness too. Sometimes, in any medium, being Deaf is presented in boxed-in ways-- stereotypes or misinformed judgments. But not here. 

It's not just that Sean signs in the dialogue; it's also how Frannie interacts with him. When writing an assignment at school, Frannie says that Sean taught her speech. He signed with her and, through signing, she learned about language and how to speak-- not in a literal sense, but in the power of speech. He taught her how to have a voice. 

It's not just that Frannie, her parents, and her grandma know how to sign; it's also how they talk about Sean and him being Deaf. We learn that Sean had the option of surgery for cochlear implants, but his mother stepped in. Not that surgery is bad, but she said something SO important for Hearing people to say, to acknowledge, and to understand. She said, "There's nothing wrong with being Deaf." 

It's not just that dialogue involves signing; it's that signing is a huge part of Frannie's thoughts and how she interacts with the world. Signs pop up sporadically in Frannie's conversations with people outside of Sean. Memories of signs lace her consciousness. 

It's not just the people closest to Sean who interact with him; we experience day-to-day interactions between Sean and strangers, where his deafness is sometimes celebrated and sometimes brutalized. Hearing girls try to flirt with him on the walk to school. Frannie translates between them. The hearing girls are ignorant about Deaf culture and people, which Sean is willing to deal with to talk to them. But once they learn he is Deaf, they walk away-- no longer interested in pursuing him. "All of that fineness wasted," one says.

There is so much to love in this book and I could go on and on about how excited I am by Woodson's representation; however, I am a Hearing person and am not someone whose word is gospel here. I'm only speaking to the delightful, positive experience I had reading this fantastic story and I appreciate the way Woodson dedicated so much love, space, and energy for Sean as a character. His deafness was by no means an afterthought; his presence and his deafness weave into Frannie's every thought and inform her perspective. Sean is as integral as Frannie is to her own story.  

Last edited: January 5, 2021