Show Me a Sign

Mrs. Lambert is Mary’s mother. While she is a kind and loving parent, she is also grieving the death of her son, George. She refuses to go to church services with her husband and daughter and spends her time brooding about her loss. Mrs. Lambert is hearing, and she doesn’t treat her daughter or husband differently because they are deaf. She is proficient in sign language and regards it as a natural way to communicate with her family.

Aside from her good qualities, Mrs. Lambert is reserved around people who are different from her. She considers Ezra an old pirate and keeps her distance from the hired hands, who are Black and Irish. She is also wary of the Wampanoag people who live on the island. She makes clear social distinctions between white settlers and everyone else.

During a fight with her husband, she accuses Mary of jealousy toward her late brother because Mrs. Lambert preferred him. She comes to regret these words said in anger when Mary flees the house and is kidnapped. After Mary’s return, Mrs. Lambert apologizes and asserts the importance of family above everything else. She even treats the servant class on the island with a little more respect as a result.

Mr. Lambert is Mary’s father. Like his daughter, he is deaf, and the two share a warm personal bond. Unlike the other landowners on the island, Lambert is willing to hire Black freedmen and the Irish when both groups are greeted with suspicion by the community. While Lambert is initially supportive of Andrew’s study of the causes of deafness, the young man’s arrogant attitude leads Lambert to ban him from the house. He imparts an important lesson to Mary by telling her that one’s life ought to be a good influence on others. He strives to follow this ideal himself when challenged by less enlightened neighbors.

Andrew is a student at Yale University. His mentor is Dr. Henry Minot, who has encouraged the young man to study the causes of deafness among the Martha’s Vineyard residents. Rather than behaving objectively as a scholar, Andrew is contemptuous and doubts the intelligence of people who are deaf, even when the facts contradict this view. He also believes that deafness is a disease that might contaminate him.

Because Andrew wants to bring a person who is deaf to Boston for study, he abducts Mary and forces her to pretend that she followed him voluntarily. When Minot learns the truth and Mary escapes, Andrew pursues her in his ship, which is lost in a storm. His attitude toward people who are deaf, while common for people of his time, is despicable, and he receives what appears a karmic punishment for his behavior when he drowns at sea.

Ezra is an old seaman who lives in a rundown shack not far from the Lambert home. Mary adores him because of his storytelling abilities. Ezra is also deaf, but he uses facial expressions and physical poses to paint a colorful picture of whatever story he wishes to convey.

Ezra also proves himself a true friend when he comes to Boston to try to rescue Mary. As they make their escape, Ezra draws upon his skills as a sailor to maneuver his way through a storm that kills Andrew. He is happy to restore his young friend to her family and becomes a welcome guest in their home.

Nancy is Mary’s best friend. She is proficient in sign language. Nancy is sharp and impatient at times because her parents have bad tempers. She is also a gifted musician and plays her recorder for Mary, even though the latter can’t hear the music.

Nancy tries to be a supportive friend by helping Mary stage a ghost dance to contact her late brother and ask his forgiveness. However, she steals some old bed sheets to make ghost costumes and later blames an Indigenous maid for the theft. When Mary reveals Nancy’s lie, Nancy becomes angry; Nancy is prejudiced against Black people and Indigenous people, and therefore did not think anything of blaming an Indigenous person for the theft. By the end of the book, Nancy forgives Mary for not supporting her and is relieved to have her friend back home. Nancy’s uncle takes her to live in Boston, where she can pursue a musical education away from her harsh family.

Dr. Minot is a prosperous Boston physician with an interest in studying people who are deaf. He encourages Andrew’s research without realizing the unscrupulous behavior of his protégé. When Mary is brought to his house, he treats her kindly and begins to doubt Andrew’s conclusions about deafness. Unlike Andrew, Minot is open-minded about the causes of deafness and doesn’t believe that people who are deaf are intellectually deficient. Once Mary communicates with him in writing, he does all he can to undo the harm that Andrew has caused and restore her to her family.