Mute story
A mute telepathic girl is the sole survivor of a fire that kills her parents. Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg. Story by: Richard Matheson.
19 total · 1 choice · 9 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| telepathic ability | choice | The story investigated what it'd be like to be the only one with telepathic abilities. |
| adoption of a child | major | Cora wished to formally adopt Ilse after having taken her in after her parents in a house fire, but her husband Harry was against it. |
| belonging | major | At first Ilse felt out of place with ordinary people, but she ultimately learned to fit in among them. |
| guardian and child | major | Ilse was taken in by the Wheelers after her parents had perished in a house fire. |
| husband and wife | major | Harry and Cora Wheeler. |
| incompatible modes of communication | major | The essentially mute Ilsa, who was raised to communicate only through telepathy, was put into school to be taught how to communicate through speech. |
| muteness | major | Ilsa's inability to speak made it challenging for her to integrate in her new home, let alone society. |
| orphanhood | major | Ilse lost her parents and had to live with two strangers. |
| parental love | major | A point revealed at the end was that the most important thing for Ilse was that she have parents who love her, rather than ones that see her as an experiment. |
| parenting a physically disabled child | major | Cora took the essentially mute child Ilsa into her home and cared for her. |