Read Octavia Butler's story “Speech Sounds” (https://www.unl.edu/english/docs/englishweek17/engl200-speechsounds.pdf)
Writing response:
1) Describe what you think Butler is trying to accomplish with her story. Provide two quotes to support your perspective. (Don’t forget to use signal phrases and quotation marks.)
2) Then describe another possibility for an ending that you think would be interesting or reflective of the world you yourself inhabit.
In her story, Octavia Butler is trying to show us the importance of communication and mutual understanding in our daily lives. Butler allowed us to have an image of what it would be like to live in a dystopian society. In a society where miscommunication dominates and, as the author said, "where the only likely common language was body language, being armed was often enough" (p. 4). I consider this story to be a warning of how the world could end if we don't broaden our knowledge of foreign languages, specifically sign language. There are great communities of deaf and/or speech impaired people who can only communicate by sign language and, despite living in segregation, they don't necessarily live together as a dystopian community or society. Therefore, I ask myself the same questions as Butler: "What if children of three or fewer years were safe and able to learn language? What if all they needed were teachers? Teachers and protectors." (p. 11). Answering these questions is key to begin educating sign language to everyone around the world and avoid ending up living in a world like the one of "Speech Sounds".
ReplyDeleteFor me, a possible ending to the story would be that the wounded man shot Obsidian, but no one expected that under his police uniform, Obsidian was wearing a bulletproof vest. Thus, he survived, Rye just had a major scare. Then, the couple realized that the two kids can talk, so they decide to adopt them, run away, and start a family with one purpose: to save the world! They plan to educate themselves in speaking, writing, reading and sign language to share that knowledge with others and stop the dystopian society from progressing further. This ending reflects the world I inhabit because, as I mentioned earlier, communication, especially in sign language, is the most necessary aspect in society.
-Angelys Rivera Hernández
2/2/22
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe story "Speech Sounds" written by Octavia Butler narrates about a world in which, due to illness, many people lost the ability to use verbal language, which causes a series of communication problems which in most cases leads to fear, fights, and deaths. At the beginning of the story, the author describes: “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding” then mentions “…the fight would begin when someone's nerve broke or someone's hand slipped or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate,” (p.2) she does this to establish the importance of communicating effectively, not only using our body but also dialogue since a simple misunderstanding can trigger problems that could be avoided. On the other hand, another relevant theme in the story is loneliness, which we can observe when the author writes: “She had been alone herself for three years. The illness had stripped her, killing her children one by one, killing her husband, her sister, her parents…”, (p.5) his loneliness reaches such a point that on several occasions she wanted to commit suicide. Communicating effectively with others not only serves to report something, but also works as a method of establishing interpersonal relationships between people, since it allows us to understand, feel and, above all, connect with others. That is why when we do not have the language or simply someone with whom we can connect, talk, and vent, we feel alone and empty, which affects our mentality and mood, just as it did with all the characters in this story.
ReplyDeleteA possible ending for me would have been that Obsidian and Rye had decided to go together to live in an abandoned house they found on the road to start a new life. To their surprise, in the house, they found two orphaned children who knew how to speak, who without thinking asked for help. Rye then reveals to both, the children and Obsidian, that she can speak too, and together they would form a new family, giving Rye a new purpose for living. Finally, Rye decides to teach Obsidian to speak, and Obsidian teaches Rye and the children how to read and write. Then the four united as a family would now dedicate themselves to solving problems and misunderstandings to stabilize and save their society.
-Emmanuel Santiago
“Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler is a science fiction short story that takes place after a pandemic takes away people’s ability to communicate, write, read, and/or speak. I think the main theme throughout the story is that effective communication is essential for a civilized society. Not being able to communicate causes chaos, confusion, and violence. Mostly provoked by jealousy, as stated in “He could read, she realized belatedly. He could probably write, too. Abruptly, she hated him— deep, bitter hatred”. To the point of unexplainable violence, “She had experienced longing for the past, hatred of the present, growing hopelessness, purposelessness, but she had never experienced such a powerful urge to kill another person”. In my opinion, the bottom line is to show that there is a connection between miscommunication and violence.
ReplyDeleteA possible ending to this story could be looking more into the future, into a life where Rye and the children are among others that can communicate towards a functioning society. To where you see more people like these children that can learn to communicate effectively. The children in the end are the silver lining in the story. Their ability to learn to communicate implies that others can learn too. We live in a world where inequality, differences, and jealousy drive our actions and reactions. Ending with a positive reassurance for a better future demonstrates that it is never too late.
- Miranda Martínez
“Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler is a dystopian story that emphasizes the importance of effective and coherent communication and literacy skills. It’s dark and extreme narrative allows the reader to better understand and appreciate said skills in today’s society. Butler successfully creates and provides a new meaning for them and highlights why people shouldn’t take them for granted. As Butler writes: “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding” (Octavia Butler, page 2). She continues: “Still, their gestures stopped just short of contact—mock punches, hand games of intimidation to replace lost curses” (Octavia Butler, page 2). This simple misunderstanding, between the men in the bus, is a representation of the importance of coherent communication. Body language and sounds that represent emotions cannot compare to verbal arguments and conversations. Forgiveness- a simple sorry- would have sufficed to avoid violence and confrontation.
ReplyDeleteAnother possible ending for “Speech Sounds” could be the creation and effective distribution of a vaccine to cure the illness or maybe Obsidian and the children’s mother could have survived and joined the forces to create a better future together. Although these are valid alternatives and seem happier and more hopeful, I wouldn’t change the story’s original ending. “Speech Sounds” incorporates a very unique technique authors use to convey a message and encourage a certain audience to speculate and self-reflect: leaving the resolution of the story to the reader’s interpretation. I believe hope is an essential feeling to all human beings and the right amount was portrayed with her writing. If I were to change or add to the story if Rye succeeded/ failed, the positive effects of the vaccine, or maybe even how Rye had woken up from a messed-up dream, it’s effect wouldn’t be the same. The audience would get confused- instead of learning from it, they take it as light reading for entertainment.
Written by: Pennélope Alers (Feb. 2, 2022)
Among many plausible goals Octavia Butler might have had for “Speech Sounds”, the one that seems the most compelling to me is that the author is trying to depict the importance of effective communication. I arrive at this conclusion by reflecting on the author’s choice of words when describing Obsidian’s attitude in the bus fight, “The bearded man stood still, made no sound, refused to respond to clearly obscene gestures… This was an attitude of superiority… Such ‘superiority’ was frequently punished by beatings.” Throughout many other instances, the narrator signals how the loss of verbal communication led to the downfall of society. The narrator also appears to support this statement by writing “Loss of verbal language had spawned a whole new set of obscene gestures.” Finally, since the illness affected the ability to speak and their cognitive abilities, people would be inclined to resolve things with physical violence.
ReplyDeleteI believe a good alternative ending to the story would include Obsidian staying alive. Instead of Obsidian dying in the hands of the thief, he could’ve made sure that the man was dead. After the incident, Obsidian could take care of the kids with Rye. With Obsidian being alive, I find it very plausible for Rye and Obsidian caring for the kids, especially since they already appeared to have some sort of romantic bond or compatibility.
-Simon Hidalgo
''Speech sounds'' written by Olivia Butler, is a science fiction story that due to illness, people lost the ability to speak. In my opinion, the author wants to emphasize the importance of language and how it can lead us to effective communication in order to avoid misunderstandings. One of the many consequences that the perdition of the use of language can bring is the lack of communication, causing them to look for other ways to express a thought. Since there is no way to carry a message easily, disputes occur like the one that occurs at the beginning of the story as indicated in: '' Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding. They stood in the aisle, grunting and gesturing at each other, each in his own uncertain T stance as the bus lurched over the potholes. The driver seemed to be putting some effort into keeping them off balance. Still, their gestures stopped just short of contact—mock punches, hand games of intimidation to replace lost curses. ''(p.2). It can be understood that due to the time they have been living like this, people get tired and lose empathy knowing that everyone is in the same situation, therefore, it makes them more aggressive. We can see it when Butler writes:’’ Straightening up, Rye saw that the runner was a woman, fleeing from an old frame house to a boarded-up storefront. She ran silently, but the man who followed her a moment later shouted what sounded like garbled words as he ran. He had something in his hand. Not a gun. A knife, perhaps.’’(p.9).
ReplyDeleteSeeing how the story unfolds at the end, I think that it flowed well and I understand that the author should have ended it so that Rye would have an awakening that killing herself was not an option despite the situation she found herself in. However, I would have liked Obsidian to live, just like the children's mother; although I consider that seeing it from the point of view of the literary genre, the mother would eventually die to preserve what was unrealizable. That way Rye could have been much happier and more content, having someone who loved her and two children to take care of her.
-Alanis Roque
In the story "Speech Sounds" Olivia E. Butler, the author, tells a story about a world in which communication is scarce because of a disease that prevented it. This disease affected all the skills for successful communication such as speaking, reading, and writing. However, it did not affect body expressions. The author of this story tries to send the message of how important communication, understanding, and comprehension are in society. In this way, though it was a bit extreme, she gave us an example of how we could look like if we do not practice mutual understanding and how much our lives could change. Everyday actions in the story were affected, for example, a ride in a bus: "Buses were so rare and irregular now, people rode when they could, no matter what. There might not be another bus today - or tomorrow. People started walking, and if they saw a bus they flagged down." (p. 2)
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the interaction between Rye and Obsidian, Butler showed us that people could communicate through body language despite not being able to communicate properly. "He flattened the map, took her hand again, and put her index finger on one spot. He touched her, touched himself, pointed toward the floor. In effect, 'We are here'." (p. 6) Setting all the focus on our differences and hatreds can blind us. Seeing beyond and putting differences aside can make a significant change in our society.
A possible ending for this story:
After Obsidian's death, Rye leaves the scene with the two kids. Rye immediately found out the kids could have a “normal” way of communicating. They walked for hours on the road until they came upon an elderly woman lying on a sidewalk. The children struck up a conversation with the elderly woman and she seemed to have the same perfect communication as them. Rye thought of all the possibilities of the cause of such perfect and interrupted communication. Eventually, she realized what the kids and the old lady had in common; the cure for the illness was the feeling of acceptance and understanding. The previously mentioned is something we need today.
- Amanda Quiñones 2/2/22
1) As we discussed in class, the most evident subject is miscommunication. The one topic I was very intrigued by and think Butler wanted to bring light to is suicide. In an apocalyptic scenario like the one in the story, suicide makes a lot of sense; at the end, we can see how Rye slightly changes her mind about the children, the future, and her own life. We see this change when the author said, “She had kept herself alive when she had no reason to live. If the illness let these children alone, she could keep them alive.” (P. 12) Suicide and depression are complex subjects that many people judge and are quick to call suicidal people “selfish" but imagine living in a silent world and losing your entire family in a blink of an eye due to a terrible illness. You’d feel hopeless, alone, sad, etc. I think Butler wanted to capture these feelings and maybe help the reader understand said feelings. As stated by the Autor, “every day had brought her closer to the time when she would do what she had left home to avoid doing: putting her gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger.” (P.8)
ReplyDelete2) A possible ending to the story could be Obsidian shooting the man after he stabbed the woman. As Rye and Obsidian turn to leave, the "dead "couple open their eyes and cut their (Obsidian's and Rye's) throats open. The man with the knife and the woman with the piece of glass; This way, they easily stole the car, guns, and Rye's bag not before calling their kids to come out.
-Amanda D. Méndez Rodríguez 02/02/2022
Olivia Butler in “Speech Sounds” creates a post-apocalyptic environment to criticize human’s selfish behavior. Rather than working together to establish a save place to live, citizen turn against each other when a pandemic takes aways their ability to read and speak. They marginalized each other for having certain abilities such as the speech. As Olivia Butler writes, “Such superiority was frequently punished by beatings, even by death”. It emphasizes how humans worry only about their success and would do anything in their hands to have it all. Also, the story highlights the importance of effective communication to avoid violence and discrimination in a community. In the story, Olivia Butler writes “knowing the fight will begin when someone’s nerve broke or someone’s hand slipped or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate”. Since they were unable to clarify their differences, they opted to do what seemed right, fight.
ReplyDeleteAnother discouraging possibility for an ending would be for her to leave without taking the kids. Throughout the story, the author seems to criticize humans for their selfishness and egotism. They think only about themselves and condemn whoever lacks impediments. Citizens spend time missing what they lost rather than appreciating what they still have. I believe providing a hopeless ending drives people to reflect more on their behavior.
The author Octavia Butler in her story titled “Speech Sounds” portrays this dystopian world where miscommunication governs and that leads to violence and chaos. With this theme the author wanted to show readers how the way we express ourselves by talking or our mannerisms can have an effect on other people. Mutual understanding is such an important part of our daily lives. Butler wrote “Then, somehow, a second dispute broke out between two of these three—probably because one inadvertently touched or hit the other.” in which these men instead of trying to figure out the reason the other touched them, they just started fighting. None stopped to try and understand what had happened. I believe that what she wants us to get out of reading her story is that we should realize how important talking, reading, and writing is for us to be able to cohabitate with others and to not have misunderstandings. To have healthy and productive experiences with other people we should recognize how important is the way we express ourselves verbally in order for others to know exactly what we want to say. But not just verbally, we should also be able to tell how we feel by our physical expressions because if we were to be like in the story where the author states that “And in this world where the only likely common language was body language…” and people don’t know how to communicate with their body then there would be no way to be in contact with one another.
ReplyDeleteAn alternative ending to Speech Sounds could be that when Obsidian gets hurt Rye runs up to him to try and save him. He, knowing he is going to die, speaks to Rye and tells her how much he appreciates her being with him in his last minutes. Rye is surprised to know that Obsidian is like her and can speak too and talks to him. After that last words Obsidian dies. Rye now understands that all those years her fears have been in the way of truly getting to live a life. She has been led by fear and because of that she couldn't get to know Obsidian on a deeper level. Now she and the kids go on to live together and she doesn’t let fear rule her life but instead tries to help everyone that needs it with her ability to talk and get to have new experiences.
-Ismary Negrón Fernández
When reading “Speech Sounds” there was something that stood out to me at all times. The lack of any traditional dialogue. And that’s when it hit me, this is a story about communication. And the pain that can be caused to yourself and others when there’s a lack of clear understanding. A very obvious example of this is in the beginning: “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding.” Though, it’s my belief that the story is also about a different type of pain, inner hurt. Because this tale isn’t just about communicating with others, but it’s also about communicating with yourself. “She had been about to drive away and leave them. She had almost done it, almost left two toddlers to die.” Throughout the story, there are many moments where Rye feels frustrated with herself. Jealous of others. And it’s this lack of communication with herself and her own feelings that causes her to almost do a terrible act. Leave behind two toddlers to die. But, by talking to herself and being more understanding of her own feelings, she got her happy ending.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to bring the ending to the world I live in, things would play out very different. After Rye kills Obsidian, she feels confused and lost as to what to do next. In the original story she eventually comes to her senses and takes care of the kids. But in my version, one of the kids already took out their phone and recorded the whole thing. But just the part where Rye kills Obsidian. They then uploaded to the internet where it goes viral and the #justiceforobsidian starts trending on Twitter. Due to the lack of communication from Rye, the internet collectively decides to hold her accountable for something she had no choice in doing and has her arrested. Rye never has any sort of epiphany, nor does she have a conversation with herself as the cycle of hate and miscommunication continues. - Adrian Jimenez
In her story, “Speech Sounds”, Octavia E. Butler wants to point out the importance of communication in society. She creates a dystopian world in which language, spoken or written, can no longer be used. This brings a lack of understanding of others which often leads to violent conflicts. The first example we see of this is right at the beginning of the story. Butler writes, “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding” (p. 2). Rye, the main character, was not surprised by this. In fact, she was even expecting it. She knew that the lack of communication brought nothing but misunderstanding; and misunderstandings brought conflict and violence.
ReplyDeleteFollowing that same line, Butler may also be trying to point out that we humans need communication for our own mental well-being. We can see that Rye started to find hope when she made sense of the possibility of being able to communicate again. At the beginning of the story, she felt loneliness and hopelessness about her life. But as the story ends, and Rye realizes that the children she has found can speak. Butler writes, “Rye's mind leaped ahead. What if children of three or fewer years were safe and able to learn language? What if all they needed were teachers? Teachers and protectors” (p.11). She found a new meaning to life. Finally, she could fill her loneliness by teaching and protecting those children and challenge her hopelessness by trusting that she could help to create a future with language and communication.
Another ending to this story could be that instead of Obsidian and the children’s mother dying at the hands of that man, Obsidian is able to restrain and disarm him before anyone gets harmed. This way, Rye and Obsidian learn that the mother and her children can use spoken language too. They decide to leave the attacker behind, and now with three more passengers in their car, they head to Rye’s home knowing that the children will be able to learn language from the knowledge that this three people are finally able to give forward.
- Alondra Acevedo Ortiz
1) In the short story “Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler you can find different reasons or point of views on what the author is trying to accomplish. The main point, she is trying to highlight is miscommunication and what it can cause. Communication is something humans do on a daily basis. It can be done by talking, writing, signs, gestures, among others. Nowadays, it’s important to fully understand it, in order to prevent misunderstandings, fights or arguments that can lead to violent acts. This is clearly seen in the story through statements in page 2, such as “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding” and “[…] knowing the fight would begin when someone’s nerve broke, or someone’s hand slipped, or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate”. Limited communication, as is it seen in the story, caused by an “illness”, has brought the darker side of humans; they clearly are either afraid of speaking and need to understand others just by gestures. When using gestures, the message can be misunderstood as each person a different opinion or point of view, clearly stating the importance of communicating correctly. Besides violence, another effect of miscommunications is suicide, as it is mentioned in “Speech Sounds” by the main character, Valerie Rye, when she considered it herself. Suicide is a topic just as important as violence because it poses a risk to each victim that can be carried out by themselves and is easily missed by others. It is a scenario where we are in danger of ourselves and need help from others to overcome it but its not easy to communicate or pick up on.
ReplyDelete2) After witnessing the dramatic events and discovering the two kids that suddenly came out of the house after all the commotion, Rye felt a sudden feeling that allowed her to speak after so long. Seeing so much tragedy and thinking what would become of the pair of toddlers, she remembered her own family, her brother, and his children. She figured something had to come from all of that. She had found her will to move on, regained her ability to speak and confirmed her initial intentions to visit her brother. She took the motherless infants with her, deciding to look after them and have them accompany her on her way to her brother’s. As such, she started a sort of new movement in pro of communication. Taking up her former role as a teacher once again, she would nurture these four minors as the first flicker of hope for the next generation. Then the light of communication could start to glimmer again, hoping to change the perspective of her family so that it could help her work in favor of this new mission she had established for herself. The path to proper communication would be long and hard, but at the demolishing of the tyranny of silence that had long stood could have its first steps. Most importantly, the clearing and building of a new path towards communication, understanding and coexistence was finally on its way.
- Kendra Santana 02/02/2022
What I think that Octavia Butler was trying to teach is that communication is important. In the story, when the cop appeared, he pointed at the bus as if he was asking what was happening and Rye, instead of speaking, “She imitated his gesture, pointing toward the bus with her own left hand, then punching the air with both fists.”(P. 3). Later in the story< we can see that the reason most people couldn't speak was because of an illness. “The illness was stroke-swift in the way it cut people down and stroke-like in some of its effects. But it was highly specific.” (P.5).
ReplyDeleteA better alternative ending, that I think that it would be good, is that Obsidian survives. Then, he, Rye and the two children could live together in a nice house. Then, Rye would try to teach Obsidian how to speak and then he ended up learning how to speak. Then, they could gather lots of children and teach them how to speak, like a school, and protect them from people that would be jealous of their ability to speak. Then, a couple of years later, a new generation of speakers would be born and society wouldn't be the same but it would be a lot better.
-Jekxelmaniel Martinez
ReplyDelete1)
The story "Speech Sounds" by Olivia Butler monopolizes themes that despite being exposed in a world where a virus has made everything worse, in reality it is a source of unfortunate events. The lack of communication leads to misunderstandings, thus provoking a number of disputes. This factor can be seen when in the reading due to a misunderstanding two men started to fight for no reason. “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding. They stood in the aisle, grunting and gesturing at each other…” Misunderstandings cause unnecessary trouble, even death, and today you see extensive news because of this.
On the other hand, the theme of suicide comes to life when Rye, the protagonist of this story, is heading down a dark path, when she loses everything she loves in his life. Rye attempted suicide because of this. “She had left her home, finally, because she had come near to killing herself. She had found no reason to stay alive. ”The search for mental help is extremely important and today society takes away the merit that she deserves. Without good mental health, you cannot find happiness or balance to yourself. One of the biggest issues that Butler addresses in a not-so-subtle way is domestic violence. In the final part of the story, Rye and Obsidian meet a woman who is running away from a man who ultimately murders her. From this situation it is intuited that the cause of this homicide is because the woman possessed something that the man had lost and this is proven by the appearance of the children of the murdered woman, who can speak without any problem, because they do not were affected by the disease.
In this fictional approach, Butler refers to problems that are experienced in today's society. Butler invites the reader to reflect on the problems that occur due to lack of communication, mental help for those who think about suicide, domestic violence, envy among peers and the outburst of one's own voice. A fantastic reality that correlates with what in our reality we face every day.
2)
I would not change the ending of this story, everything Rye had to go through helped her understand that she has a purpose and that she is not alone. However, I would have liked Obsidian to survived so that Rye could feel that other part of her alive again, but if that happen, her maternal and protective side of her towards others would not have resurfaced again. At the end of the day, every event happens for a reason and we learn from it, be it good or bad.
During the story “Speech Sounds” written by Olivia Butler, it is portrayed the impact and importance in society communication has. Butler narrates about a dystopian society, where many people lost the ability to communicate verbally due to an illness. This caused a series of misunderstandings and communication problems that lead characters to create problems that could been avoided. The author describes: “Two young men were involved in a disagreement of some kind, or, more likely, a misunderstanding” (Octavia Butler, page 2). Butler proceeds to mention: “…the fight would begin when someone’s nerve broke or someone’s hand slipped or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate” (Octavia Butler, page 2). This is the author’s way to demonstrate the significance of coherent communication in various ways like body language.
ReplyDeleteI think that another interesting ending to the story “Speech Sounds” could be that after Rye kills Obsidian, she feels unwell, disoriented, confused as to what comes next. Then, eventually, one of the kids took out their phone and recorded everything when Rye kills Obsidian. The kid posted it on every social media, where it went viral around the world. Consequently, the power of social media takes control of situation. The internet decides to make a demand and Rye gets arrested.
-Marisabel Cordero Méndez