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Are "mutes" in literature really autistics?

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MagicMeerkat
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19 Sep 2011, 1:14 pm

One of my favorite books, King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry is about Agba, a mute Moroccoan horse boy. Agba is mute in the book, although it is said that weither he was in real life is debatable. Are mutes in literature really cases of autism? I asked this once before but was told that they were probably mute because they could never learn to speak because they were deaf. Agba, in King of the Wind was not.


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arielhawksquill
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19 Sep 2011, 1:53 pm

No, there are many causes for muteness. The one mute person I have known was born without vocal cords.

You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muteness



Jory
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19 Sep 2011, 2:04 pm

I wouldn't automatically assume it, but I wouldn't rule it out either.