Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the story:


Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler


This story is part of the group discussion of Octavia Butler's short story collection Bloodchild and Other Stories. (See the discussion hub topic for more info.)

This one would be particularly scary if it really happened. An illness befalling pretty much everyone, so quickly they weren't able to determine what caused it. It robs almost everyone of speech and intelligence. As Butler put it in her afterword, like stroke victims. My uncle had a stroke and not being able to communicate was incredibly frustrating for him, in part because he also lost the ability to think things through.

Rose wrote: "This one would be particularly scary if it really happened. An illness befalling pretty much everyone, so quickly they weren't able to determine what caused it. It robs almost everyone of speech ..."

Massive, universal, instantly-spreading diseases like this are a sci-fi author's equivalent of waving a magic wand, wishing to explore some new human condition. (In this case, a society where people have forgotten how to speak.) Similar examples in Day of the Triffids, Night of the Comet. If you're reading urban fantasy, it's literally magic, variously called The Change, The Shift, The Breakthrough, The Awakening, etc.

In a world mostly without speech, Butler imagines jealousy on the part of those who can still speak. Reading also seems to be a lost art. This jealousy often manifests itself violently (thus ensuring even fewer people around who can still speak.) Butler obviously feels humans like to express their jealousy, anger, & frustration with violence.

I thought it was a pretty good story, presented an interesting character, really two characters, gave them an interesting almost-relationship. And it threw in a cute twist at the end. Enjoyed reading it.

A wonderful case of world building, mixing isolation with communication and pandemics, a world deprived of verbal exchange. It shows social breakdown and disorder, even violence when verbal communication isn’t available anymore. First, it seems to be a dystopia but it turns out as a story about hope with a nice twist in the end.