El Deafo

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2014

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4 Summary

Cece’s family moves from a small house in the city to a large home in the countryside. Cece tries to bond with the children in the neighborhood, but they are only interested in the radio, which Cece can’t understand. She feels deeply lonely. Cece starts the first grade in a “normal” classroom, with a new piece of assistive technology—the Phonic Ear. It allows her teacher to speak into a microphone and directly into her hearing aid. A drawing depicts the heavy, complex device, which Cece wears under her clothes, including funny captions like: “Underpants! Avert your eyes” (39). Soon, Cece realizes that she can hear her teacher, Mrs. Lufton, all over the school—even in the bathroom. Cece compares herself to Batman, who uses technology as a superpower, and imagines herself in a cape: “I can use my own crazy technology—the Phonic Ear—to turn myself into a superhero, too!” (44). However, the other children still question her. She wonders if she is really a superhero if she can’t hear at all in some moments and has super-hearing in others.

Chapter 5 Summary

Cece is lonely in first grade, until she meets a girl named Laura. Laura is pushy but doesn’t seem to mind Cece’s hearing aid. Laura tells Cece, “You’re a weird kind of funny” (48). Cece becomes best friends with Laura through first and second grade, despite Laura’s bossiness and controlling behavior. Laura lets her dog attack Cece and doesn’t let her make new friends at Girl Scouts. Eventually Cece gets sick of Laura and begins to imagine using her superhero powers to fight Laura’s cruel behavior: “With the speed of light, our hero hurls the Earmolds of Virtue at Super Bossy Pants” (58). Cece gives in and spends more time with Laura.

Chapter 6 Summary

Cece gets new hearing aids without cords for life at home but must keep the Phonic Ear at school. She spends the summer with Laura; drawings depict her as a fish caught on Laura’s line. She wants to take part in the fun activities Laura suggests, but she doesn’t always want to do it Laura’s way. Cece is relieved when she and Laura are in separate classes for third grade. Soon, Cece meets a new girl named Ginny. Ginny’s mother is friends with Cece’s mother, and they begin to spend a lot of time together—Ginny drives Laura away and offers Cece an excuse to focus her attention on someone else. Ginny is funny and enjoys the same books and games as Cece, but there is one problem: She talks slowly and strangely to Cece, because she is deaf. She also talks about Cece in ways she doesn’t like, telling other girls: “Cece is my deaf friend” (67). Eventually Cece gives in and tells Ginny, angrily, that she can’t stand being spoken to that way. Ginny is angry and tells Cece to go home.

Chapters 4-6 Analysis

Cece struggles with agency and loneliness in these chapters, as she tries to make friends despite her differences. Cece doesn’t yet have the skills to advocate for herself in her friendships. Because of this, she allows Laura to call her names and act cruelly toward her. Laura says: “You’re a weird kind of funny” (48), and Cece accepts this insult because she believes she is weird, and because she is desperate to fit in. In later chapters with Ginny, Cece allows Ginny to refer to her as “my deaf friend” (67), despite feeling tokenized and pigeon-holed by her disability. Cece is too afraid of continued social isolation to speak up and advocate for her emotional needs. Despite this, Cece hates feeling alienated or thought of as different, and she ends friendships because she can’t stand it when her peers speak to her that way. This only leads to further loneliness, as she silently struggles with this accidental social alienation.

Despite her loneliness, Cece finds positivity in the character El Deafo. Cece imagines herself as a superhero to find her agency. Where Cece is frightened, El Deafo is brave. El Deafo embraces her difference, rather than hiding from it. Though El Deafo speaks to Cece’s movements toward emotional growth, there are still moments when she feels powerless. One example in these chapters is the image of her as a fish on Laura’s line. This image speaks to her lack of agency and her struggle to find her own voice.