El Deafo

Cece reflects on her loneliness and filling her time with TV. Though she often can’t understand what characters are saying, she can lip-read soap operas, where there are close-ups of characters’ faces. She tries to spend time with her siblings but often ends up watching TV with them rather than playing games. They are patient enough to explain the plot points she misses. One day, while watching a kid’s movie special, the siblings see a character with a Phonic Ear. The other children call him Deafo. Despite wanting to feel outrage, Cece finds this hilarious. In the bathroom, she looks in the mirror and calls herself Deafo. She proclaims: “You wanna call me Deafo, go ahead! Yeah, that’s right! Just call me…El Deafo” (84).

Cece is invited to Ginny’s sleepover birthday party. She is excited to go but finds upon her arrival that she is uncomfortable. Missy, a popular girl, keeps calling her “poor thing” (92), and Cece can’t understand anything during the movie they watch. She has moments of fun, playing Twister and gossiping in sleeping bags, but once the lights go out, the girls keep talking, and Cece can’t understand a thing. She asks to go home and watches TV with her parents for a while.