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Silence: Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell
It only takes one spark of love to change the world forever.
Mabel Hubbard Bell was a strong, self-assured woman--bright, passionate, and a complete original. Despite a near-fatal case of childhood scarlet fever that cost her the ability to hear, she learned to talk and lip-read in multiple languages. At nineteen, she married a young inventor named Alexander Graham Bell and became the most significant influence in his life.
This is Mabel's story, offering the unique perspective of a woman whose remarkable life was forever connected to her famous, distracted husband. From inspiring invention to promoting public service, Mabel and Alec challenged each other to become strong forces for good. Silence is a beautiful and true love story about how we communicate.
Mabel Hubbard Bell was a strong, self-assured woman--bright, passionate, and a complete original. Despite a near-fatal case of childhood scarlet fever that cost her the ability to hear, she learned to talk and lip-read in multiple languages. At nineteen, she married a young inventor named Alexander Graham Bell and became the most significant influence in his life.
This is Mabel's story, offering the unique perspective of a woman whose remarkable life was forever connected to her famous, distracted husband. From inspiring invention to promoting public service, Mabel and Alec challenged each other to become strong forces for good. Silence is a beautiful and true love story about how we communicate.
- GenresPlays
128 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2020
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January 13, 2026
خوانشِ نخست: ۲۵ دسامبر ۲۰۲۵
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گریستم. برای زن. برای سکوت، برای صدا. برای پرشوریِ عشق و به خاموشیرفتنِ عشق. برای ایثار، برای خودخواهی. برای سوگ، برای سوگ، برای سوگ.
و ترسیدم. از غفلتکردن و غفلتشدن. از فراموشی و خوادخواهی. از زنبودن، زنبودن، زنبودن.
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چه نمایشنامهی زنانه و شاعرانهای. دوستش داشتم، زیاد. قلبم را پر کرد. و چشمهام را.
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چقدر پررنگیِ سکوت را مابینِ کلمهها و صداها دوست داشتم. در زندگیهای پر سر و صدای ماشینی و شهری امروز، چه خالیست جای سکوت. چقدر سکوت غنیمت است و چقدر در سکوتی دائمی زیستن ترسناک و دور از دست به نظر میرسد. وهمآلود و رازآلود.
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دلم میخواهد به سکوت بیشتر فکر کنم و بیشتر بفهممش و بیشتر زندگیاش کنم.
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گریستم. برای زن. برای سکوت، برای صدا. برای پرشوریِ عشق و به خاموشیرفتنِ عشق. برای ایثار، برای خودخواهی. برای سوگ، برای سوگ، برای سوگ.
و ترسیدم. از غفلتکردن و غفلتشدن. از فراموشی و خوادخواهی. از زنبودن، زنبودن، زنبودن.
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چه نمایشنامهی زنانه و شاعرانهای. دوستش داشتم، زیاد. قلبم را پر کرد. و چشمهام را.
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چقدر پررنگیِ سکوت را مابینِ کلمهها و صداها دوست داشتم. در زندگیهای پر سر و صدای ماشینی و شهری امروز، چه خالیست جای سکوت. چقدر سکوت غنیمت است و چقدر در سکوتی دائمی زیستن ترسناک و دور از دست به نظر میرسد. وهمآلود و رازآلود.
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دلم میخواهد به سکوت بیشتر فکر کنم و بیشتر بفهممش و بیشتر زندگیاش کنم.
February 11, 2024
This is information that is increasingly made its way into the public consciousness, but in case you didn't know: Alexander Graham Bell was an eugenicist. Despite having a Deaf wife and a Deaf mother, he wanted Deafness to go extinct. To that end, he vigorously campaigned for the mainstreaming of Deaf people—and part of this campaign was his crusade against Deaf organizations. Without Deaf social spaces (including signed languages), Deaf people would integrate into "normal" society, marry and have children with hearing people, and, eventually, Deaf people would go extinct.
“Those who believe as I do, that the production of a defective race of human beings would be a great calamity to the world, will examine carefully the causes that lead to the intermarriages of the deaf with the object of applying a remedy.” —Alexander Graham Bell, 1883
What does this mean for that aforementioned Deaf wife, Mabel Gardiner Bell, a survivor of childhood scarlet fever, an "oral success," a brilliant businesswoman behind the maneuvering of her beloved "Alec"? "Silence" doesn't give us the answer we would hope for in the modern day: A proud disabled person enlightens the people around them. It does, however, give valuable insight about how eugenicist rhetoric affects even the most "self-assured" among us, through the "Deaf eyes" of Mabel Bell, forcing the audience to experience the trials and tribulations of an "oral success" themselves (namely, the play does not provide any dialogue for characters Mabel herself cannot see and, thus, lip-read).
“Those who believe as I do, that the production of a defective race of human beings would be a great calamity to the world, will examine carefully the causes that lead to the intermarriages of the deaf with the object of applying a remedy.” —Alexander Graham Bell, 1883
What does this mean for that aforementioned Deaf wife, Mabel Gardiner Bell, a survivor of childhood scarlet fever, an "oral success," a brilliant businesswoman behind the maneuvering of her beloved "Alec"? "Silence" doesn't give us the answer we would hope for in the modern day: A proud disabled person enlightens the people around them. It does, however, give valuable insight about how eugenicist rhetoric affects even the most "self-assured" among us, through the "Deaf eyes" of Mabel Bell, forcing the audience to experience the trials and tribulations of an "oral success" themselves (namely, the play does not provide any dialogue for characters Mabel herself cannot see and, thus, lip-read).
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