Mute

"Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Ilse, a twelve-year-old girl, is orphaned when her parents die in a fire. She is left in the care of others unaware of her true condition. It seems that her parents raised her in ignorance, and did not even teach her to talk. In actuality, Ilse was raised (along with other children in far-away Europe) by parents who subjected her to an experiment. The experiment w... more

"Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Ilse, a twelve-year-old girl, is orphaned when her parents die in a fire. She is left in the care of others unaware of her true condition. It seems that her parents raised her in ignorance, and did not even teach her to talk. In actuality, Ilse was raised (along with other children in far-away Europe) by parents who subjected her to an experiment. The experiment was essentially a language deprivation experiment, in which no one spoke (verbally) with the child. The experiment was intended to draw out inherent telepathic abilities that the parents believed all people once possessed, but which had been repressed after the development of spoken language. The experiment with Ilse was particularly successful: Ilse communicated well telepathically. But after the death of her parents, Ilse lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds, and her life is turned upside down. Her teacher... less