In any family, members are faced with unique challenges of change. "And Sarah Laughed" epitomizes this call to change on several levels. Joanne Greenberg, the author, clearly shows how Sarah must overcome change going from a hearing family to a deaf family. Then Sarah must change again later in life as her deaf family learns a new way to communicate. But Greenberg also has an underlying change that all parents must go through as their children grow up and move on with their own lives.
Sarah shows her ability to change from the beginning of her marriage to Matthew. She had to change her entire way of communicating in order to develop and bond in her marriage with a deaf spouse. "When they were first married, they had written yearning notes to each other. But [. . . ] the notes also were mute. [. . . S] he spoke to him slowly, facing him, and he took the words as they formed on her lips. [. . . while] he used his odd, grunting tone [.]" She convinced herself that it was through work that they talked as it "prayed and laughed" for them. As the years passed her own silence increased and "people notice how little they needed to say" but in fact the silence imprisoned her.
Once Abel, her son, and his bride Janice arrive, Sarah is faced again with the challenge of changing her way of communicating with her family. As Abel and Janice step from the car spinning "meanings, [. . . ] talking [. . . ] , and painting thoughts in the air [. . .] with their fingers," jealousy surges through Sarah. This jealousy continues to grow as each member of her family begins to communicate with one another using their fingers to speak and Sarah feels more and more left out not just from the hearing world but also from the deaf world of her immediate family.
The underlying changes that Sarah faces, that all parents must go through, is that of letting their children go and learning to live with just their spouse. Sarah has been a hearing person in a deaf country; she has spoken for, protected and been the link between her family and the hearing world.