Senses
It’s fascinating how things in life coincide or come together. It’s a phenomenon that has intrigued me for many years, and in numerous contexts.
Working on two books in quick succession, the significance of our senses was brought to light.
In Alexander Crombie’s The Rise of the Phoenix, one of the characters talks about the importance of the eyes – not only for seeing but also for communicating. We talk through our eyes in addition to our speech. So, when a person loses their sight, not only do they have to learn how to ‘see’ where to go and find things, they also need to find new ways of communicating the messages usually conveyed by the eyes. The raised eye-brow, eyes lifted in exasperation, that secret wink or that ‘take a look there’ flicker. Not sure what I mean? Look at the facial emojis often used in text messages these days or think of how much more difficult it is talking to someone with dark glasses on compared with none.
They also talk of the eyes being the window to the soul. People who usually wear glasses full-time talk of feeling exposed when not wearing them. There’s a feeling of another person being able to see right inside…a feeling no doubt rather than reality, but a point which supports the important role that eyes play.
The other text on senses is The Phobia of E-Learning during Covid-19, a one act play by Majeed Mohammed Midhin. Majeed focuses on the importance of touch. It’s how we communicate feelings and emotions. While the eyes can do this too, for Majeed, touch is the more important. He demonstrates this in his short play which explores the challenges drama students in Iraq had to understand script interpretation during the lock-down period of Covid-19 in 2020/1.
Thinking about it, of the three remaining senses, hearing, smell, and taste, smell probably features more in writing – giving warning of something about to happen – fire, death etc, with hearing close behind – sudden noises, rumbling trains but it’s in the movie realms that sound comes into its own – the ‘big badda boom’ car chases and otger explosions which seem so prevalent in many films, and those screeching hysterical women… Taste almost seems to be ignored, unless there’s a drug deal going down and the efficacy of the goods needs checking – both in writing and on the screen.
Alexander Crombie has a book with a blind main character – Become the Wind
I can’t think of books with a deaf lead, although there are the Marley Maitland movies. Lip reading features on occasion – when trying to catch a spy or criminal but that seems to be as far as it goes.
Now that South Africa has made Sign Language an official language in the country, I wonder if we will start seeing fictional deaf or hard of hearing characters in books.
