Assignment 5A- Train Go Sorry

"I am a hearing student (or deaf student) assigned the book Train Go Sorry in my Introduction to Humanities Class. Other readings assigned in this class include several essays from the book My California. In both books, we examined the cultures of California that form a microcosm of the U.S. In this essay, I will incorporate 4 required questions."
In the book Train Go Sorry there is a school for the deaf named Lexington School in Queens, New York. There is a student there named James Taylor who is deaf and has come to live there in the dorms. He comes from a poor family in a bad neighborhood and has learned to overcome obstacles that he may have not been able to avoid had he not moved to the dorms when he did. His younger brother Joseph was not so lucky and did not have the support and encouragement that James had in the deaf community. Eventually, Joseph ended up in jail and James had tried to visit him once and missed him due to the fact that Joseph had a court date. In the deaf community the saying “train go sorry” means to “miss the boat” or “miss communications.” James made reference to this saying because he spent the whole day trying to visit his brother in jail only to be told that he had a last minute court date and he would not be back in time to have a visitor that day. On another occasion James succeeds in visiting his brother for the first time since he had been in jail and his Joseph tells him that he misses being at home or that home is better than being in jail. On that day James realizes that Joseph was the one who was “train go sorry.”

The main person in the story is the author Leah Hager Cohen. She is walking in the shoes of a deaf person even though she can hear. She grew up in the school where her father Oscar was at first the day care director and later the superintendant of Lexington. She always wanted to be a part of the deaf community even though she could hear. She grew up around deaf people at the school and her father’s parents were both deaf. She was always trying to learn to sign even though her parents wanted her to speak and not sign. She was hearing after all and they believed that she should not be in the classes with the deaf students since she was not deaf. When she started to go to school it was in the local public school. She secretly practiced signing whenever she could. As an adult Leah longed to be an ASL interpreter in the deaf community hoping that this would allow her into the culture she longed to be a part of since she was a young child. She realized that being an interpreter would be a difficult job and through the eyes of the deaf people she talks about in the book she realizes that she will never really be a part of deaf community because she can hear and even if they allow her to interpret for them that might be the closest she will get.

One image that I will never forget is in chapter 11 when Sofia and Irena are at home with their mother and the mother signs “thank you” to Irena for the first sign that she has ever attempted since the girls started at Lexington. Sofia and her family were immigrants from Russia. Their parents never tried to learn sign language and when they first heard that their daughter Sofia was deaf they were instructed to leave her at a deaf school. Her mother was devastated and left her at their doctor’s advice. After that, she had her sister Irena and she also turned out to be deaf as well. She left Irena at the deaf school with Sofia and vowed to never have any more children lest they also be born deaf. She felt bad and so this is the reason I believe that she refused to learn how to sign. Sofia who was very good at translating for Irena and could speak a little would interpret for Irena and her parents. When Sofia was headed for college she asked her mother how she would communicate with Irena now that she would be gone. Sophia’s mother responded by asking Sofia if she could teach Irena to have better speech and learn to speak Russian. Sofia told her that she could not do that because it would be too difficult. Later, her mother who this whole time refused to learn sign language used sign language with Irena to say “thank you” for helping her out. It was a breakthrough for their mother and both girls were elated and celebrated with their mother for taking this step. They asked her where she had learned that sign and she said from Sofia.

ASL stands for American Sign Language. It is the language of the deaf in this country. Deaf people think of ASL as part of their culture and many believe that it is the only way to communicate with each other. Deaf culture is the same as being in a minority culture. It cannot be cured nor should you want to cure it. The deaf believe that trying to cure it is like saying that Mexicans should bleach their skin because it would be easier to be white in a predominantly white society. Cochlear implants are controversial because once the implants have been placed in the ear there is no turning back and traditional hearing aids will no longer be an option. Also, the deaf community wants the implants to be offered after the child is an adult so that they can choose for themselves if they want to have the implants or not. Doctors disagree because they say that the implants work better when they are implanted at a young age. This is still a controversy and is difficult to understand if you are not deaf. To the deaf it is like trying to cure deafness.

Leah Cohen wrote this book through the eyes of a deaf person. One of the stories she tells is the story of James Taylor who grew up in a bad neighborhood to a mother who meant well but lacked the resources to provide a good home especially to her deaf son. It seemed that James’ deafness had saved him from a terrible fate that would have been inevitable had he stayed in the home with his family. The school and staff at Lexington were so supportive of James and he took advantage of his newly formed support group and worked hard to leave behind the days of yesterday when he would look to cause trouble with his younger brother. The deaf community kept a close eye on him and one time when he was not coming to school they came to see him at home and find out what was going on. This is dedication from the staff and the deaf community. They would not allow James to fall through the cracks.
I thought this was a great story and one that I would not have looked to find out about since in my own life there have not been many deaf people. I see that I would be one of the first to hand a deaf person a piece of paper and not try to first attempt to listen to their words. This was not in an attempt to be disrespectful but on the contrary in an attempt to be very attentive and make sure that I had everything that they wanted to communicate written down. I did not want to be rude and not answer anything that they wanted to ask me. I never realized that cochlear implants were so controversial in the deaf community. I as a hearing person would think that they would want to be able to hear. I realize that this would take them out of their culture and could make their culture seem negative. I understand how learning ASL is so important and being proud of being deaf is as important and being proud to be of Latin descent is for me.