Words Left Unspoken

“Words Left Unspoken” Response Questions

1. What was Leah Hager Cohen’s earliest memory of her grandfather?  Since she can’t sign and

he’s unable to speak, how do they communicate?

•              Leah’s earliest memories of her grandfather were of when she was young and how she perceived his chin. She describes it as hard and pointy.
•             Leah and Sam communicate through touch. Their inability to communicate with sound does not interfere with the way they feel about each other. Sam portrays his joy of seeing her by nuzzling her with his strong jutting chin while holding her.

2. What is the significance of the essay’s title? What do you think the “words left unspoken” are?

•            Leah and her grandfather Sam could not communicate with words. This is why she entitled the piece “Words Left Unspoken.”
•           Unfortunately Leah nor her grandfather could not express in sign or verbally how much they truly cared for one another. They relied solely on touch and this could not establish how they wanted one another to know their feelings.

3. What do you think Cohen means when she says, “That was the longest conversation we ever

had”?

·         During this walk Sam and Leah bonded. They could not express their true feelings but Leah found a way to show her grandfather how much he meant to her. She began to pace herself like him and made sure that he was aware that she was with him by the touch she established through holding hands. By matching his gait Leah portrayed that she wanted to be with him and wanted to spend time alone with him.

4. What figures of speech (see yesterday’s notes) does Cohen use in the essay?

·         Leah uses similes and metaphors.

5. In the last paragraph, Cohen says that now, after her grandfather’s death, “everything seems

like a clue.”  What do you think she means by this?  Do you think this is an effective way to

end the essay?  Why or why not?

·         Leah means that everything was a clue as to how much her grandfather cared for her. By the way he tried to express himself he was showing her affection in the only way he knew how because she couldn’t understand sign language and he could not verbally tell her.

·         This is an effective way to end the essay. Her grandfather was showing affection through actions not through words. This is why the title is “Words Left Unspoken,” the words that were left unspoken were that of affection and love.