Analysis of Alandra Lilacs

In Alandra’s Lilacs, a mother Tressa Bowers tells us what it is like to be the hearing mother of her deaf daughter Alandra. Drawing on the seventeen chapters of this book as well as other documentaries in relation to the same, this paper examines the theme of love, relationship, communication, marriage, separation, and development. Through my research, I have established a relationship between hardship and the will to live. We see Tressa facing endless challenges of two children dying at infancy; a divorce and Alandra’s deafness that is diagnosed at 11 months and the physician describes her as “stone deaf”. We see a woman with an undying will to survive despite her challenges. I do not understand if it is because it was easy to adopt or the family spent a lot of time familiarizing with themselves with these devices to overcome the problem.

The book does not discuss why Alandra decided not to hear and joined the deaf community and solely depended on sign language afterward. CHAPTER TWO: INTRODUCTION This is a book with an involving view of the culture of the deaf and the alienation that arises between the deaf and the hearing. We are introduced to Tress Bowers the mother of a deaf child Alandra. When her daughter was five months old she suspected that she could not hear. She uses catchy titles in her book such as “stuttering with my hands”. She also uses symbolism when she describes the words of the unsympathetic physician who says Alandra’s deafness makes her a “stone deaf”-this meant that she could not recover and she would remain as mute as a stone. Bower’s is discussed as a strong woman.

Over the years she suffers a significant loss since she losses her two children at infancy, she later gets divorced and she faces financial struggle and had to take Alandra to a residential school. Bower can be viewed as an optimistic person, industrious and highly motivated. Bower felt that she was more of Alandra’s teacher than her mother since their communication was constricted and frustrating and did not yield the mother-daughter relationship she wanted. The author also brings out love between a mother and a daughter. Bower says that leaving her daughter in residential school was traumatizing, she also had to learn sign language so as to connect with her daughter and talk to her any way she could. Alandra's conversations were mostly about their memories together. The author brings out the importance of education.

She also gets into a second marriage and her daughter also gets married bringing out the significance of marriage. This set of events all take place in a family setting since even after her divorce Bower moves in with her parent. This book also illustrates a lot of separation beginning with Alandra going to residential school, he mother getting divorced and her final decision to disconnect with the normal world when she gets rid of the hearing aids. Finally, we could argue that Bowers was a good support system for her daughter since she made it possible for her to connect with the world through assistive technology. CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION In conclusion, this book illustrates the vital role played good support systems for those with any impairment.