Role shift is a grammatical component of ASL in which a signer uses body, head tilt, and eye gaze, along with other affective traits, to assume the role of another person or object in a narrative. For example: Shoulder shift: in basic role shift, a signer shifts their shoulders and body to the left to establish one character or speaker, then to the right to establish another.
Head tilt and eye gaze: these can be used to illustrate physical height or authority. For example, tilting the head up as if to look at someone taller, and back down to address someone smaller, could indicate a conversation between a teacher and a student.
A skilled storyteller can use role shift, along with facial expression, signing speed, size, space, dialectic word choice, and other mannerisms to fully transform into an array of characters.
DID YOU KNOW? Role shift isn’t just for people. Deaf storytellers frequently embody nontraditional perspectives like animals, plants, buildings, and all kinds of inanimate objects to tell a three-dimensional story.
austin was staring at the blinking cursor in his still-blank lab report, thinking that perhaps if he flunked all his classes he could drop out and be spared a transfer to Jeff, when he noticed a sharp beam of light outside his window.
Do you see that?
Eliot, who was closer to the window, looked up.
Yeah, it’s your girlfriend, he said nonchalantly.
Austin jumped from the bed and went to open the window, where he was pleasantly surprised to find Charlie standing in the hedge, shining her phone’s flashlight in his face.
What are you doing? he said, squinting into the light.
Sorry, she said, lowering the phone. You busy?
She leaned in and kissed him. He offered his arms to steady her as she climbed into the room.
When did you get back?
Right now.
Are you, like…o-k to be back?
You’re not happy to see me?
Of course I am.
He closed the window and shade, led her to his bed. They kissed again, and she let him run his hand the length of her thigh before stopping him. Across the room, Eliot had returned to his laptop glaze. Austin waved a hand to catch his attention.
Mind if we have a minute?
Sure, Eliot said.
He scooped up his computer and ambled out into the common room, and Austin and Charlie picked up where they’d left off, Austin sliding his hand beneath her shirt, slowly, as if counting vertebrae, until he reached her bra.
O-k?
She nodded. He unhooked the clasp and Charlie climbed on top of him and pulled off her shirt.
* * *
—
Afterward, they lay atop the comforter for a precious few minutes, Charlie in the crook of his arm. It was an irresponsible thing to do with bed checks looming, but that made it all the more pleasurable. He would never tell anyone, but this was actually the thing he liked most about sex, the bright high afterward that bleached the outside world from sight. It was difficult to sign lying this way, but that was another part of it—their bodies still so close together, they didn’t need to.
It was too short a moment for his liking. Their sweat cooled, Charlie shivered. He could feel her fingerspelling something into his chest:
S-o-r-r-y.
He shifted a little so they could see one another.
What’s wrong?
I think I need to leave.
She pulled her bra and T-shirt back on.
Did I do something?
No, like, leave Colson.
What are you talking about?
My parents, they want to implant me again.
What? After…
Austin gestured to her stitches and she nodded.
That’s what I’m saying. They won’t stop and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.
A sliver of Eliot appeared in the doorway. He looked relieved that he had not interrupted.
Hey. Sam says they’re doing checks on east side.
Shit, thanks.
Eliot nodded and sat back down on his bed. They finished dressing and Austin opened the door to his wardrobe and swiped his clothes to one side. Charlie just looked at him.
You have a better idea?
She climbed in and he repositioned his row of hanging shirts neatly in front of her, then closed the door. They never checked closets but his heart was still pounding, so hard that he was afraid the dormkeeper might see it through his shirt. He held his history book up against his chest as armor.
Smooth, said Eliot when they’d gone.
What?
Eliot laughed.
Nothing. You just looked squirrelly is all.
Whatever, they left, didn’t they?
Austin opened the closet. Charlie climbed out and returned to his bed.
You o-k?
Fine. I mean, besides not knowing what to do with my life.
Austin wanted to tell her not to leave, that he would find a way to protect her, but he knew it wasn’t true. Worse than that, in a few months, none of them would be safe.
Where would you go?
I don’t know, maybe stay with Slash and them until I figure things out.
I’ll go with you.
What? No way. I’m gonna have to drop out.
S-o?
S-o? You can’t leave.
He dug at the carpet with his toe.
I have to tell you something.
It was difficult to get his hands to move now, but he was propelled by the expression on Charlie’s face. She looked terrified, almost like she worried he was about to turn her in.
What is it?
River Valley is closing.
What? said Eliot, jumping up from his bed.
Austin had forgotten Eliot was there, but it didn’t matter anymore.
What? When?
End of the school year. My dad was interpreting a district meeting and they announced it. It’s why they want to implant Sky.
And you’ve known this since—
Since break.
Jesus.
Fuck.
Charlie ran a hand through her hair, her usual nervous habit, but it caught on her wound and she recoiled.
What are we gonna do?
What can we do? They don’t listen. No one listens.
We could make them listen.
Here Charlie paused. It was almost dramatic, the way she froze midsign, her hand beside her eye the way he’d taught her, not by her ear like hearing people signed it. In retrospect, he realized this had been the moment for her, that for years people in power had overrun her body, and this was the shutdown, the hard reset. At the time, though, he worried something bad was happening, a complication from the surgery, a seizure maybe. He ran to her and took her hand in an attempt to guide her back to the bed.
You o-k?
I’m fine, she said.
And then he saw the smile, a grin so wide he could see a fleck of silver filling in a back tooth. So much strength behind it, it crinkled her nose.
You’re beautiful, he couldn’t help saying.
I have an idea. Let’s go into Colson.
O-k…right now?
She nodded.
We’re gonna stage a protest. Deaf President Now–style.
But it’s dark out. No one will even see us.
That’s the point.
I don’t get it. DPN was a huge march. It only worked because it was all over the news.
She shook her head.
It wasn’t the marching, she said. It was the takeover.
Austin’s cheeks were tingling, which sometimes happened when he was very nervous. Still, he already knew whatever it was, he was in.
Besides, if we do it right, we will make the news.
Should I check the bus schedule?
Forget it. I have a car.
Charlie and Austin both looked at Eliot, startled.
All right if I join?
If you want, but—
Eliot wrenched his own phone from his pocket, held out his hand for theirs.
I’m leaving them in the common room.
Charlie and Austin each switched their phones off, handed them to Eliot.
Wait, said Charlie, grabbing Eliot’s arm. Why are you helping us?
I’ll tell you on the way, he said.