Speech Sounds
Victor B. Andrews IV
Sean Ennis
Writ 102
April 24, 2013
“Speech Sounds” Speech Sounds is a fictional story written by an African-American science fiction author by the name of Octavia E. Butler. Octavia Butler received both the Hugo and Nebula awards for various works of hers. At a very young age Octavia was diagnosed with dyslexia and had acquired a slight speech impediment, which led to ongoing teasing and humiliation from her peers. She was often belittled and bullied by this and also affected by racism and sexism. Writing fictional stories was Butler’s self-therapy to foster her emotions based on the experiences in her own life. She was drawn to reading and writing science fiction stories to elude her boredom and loneliness. Speech Sounds is one of her many fictional pieces that she has written to help convey her emotions to an audience. In 1984, Octavia Butler was presented with the Hugo Award for her story Speech Sounds and also received a lifetime achievement award for her writing from the PEN American Center. In most of her works, Butler explored multiple social issues such as race, sexuality, gender, religion, and social class.
The main characters of this short fiction are Rye and Obsidian. They get their names from the exchanging of gifts that each had to give as a symbol of friendship. Obsidian presented Rye with a necklace with a black, shiny, igneous rock to keep, while Rye presented Obsidian with a pen that appeared to resemble wheat. The two of them are placed in this walking dead society as superiors. The main focus in Speech Sounds is the interpretation of the Illness, lack of communication among people, and the resulting isolation. Speech Sounds is a story about a disease that causes an entire society to develop an “impairment.” In the short story, the character Rye refers to this impairment as “The illness.” The illness had taken away the ability for human beings to communicate with one another, loss of human intelligence, and
Sean Ennis
Writ 102
April 24, 2013
“Speech Sounds” Speech Sounds is a fictional story written by an African-American science fiction author by the name of Octavia E. Butler. Octavia Butler received both the Hugo and Nebula awards for various works of hers. At a very young age Octavia was diagnosed with dyslexia and had acquired a slight speech impediment, which led to ongoing teasing and humiliation from her peers. She was often belittled and bullied by this and also affected by racism and sexism. Writing fictional stories was Butler’s self-therapy to foster her emotions based on the experiences in her own life. She was drawn to reading and writing science fiction stories to elude her boredom and loneliness. Speech Sounds is one of her many fictional pieces that she has written to help convey her emotions to an audience. In 1984, Octavia Butler was presented with the Hugo Award for her story Speech Sounds and also received a lifetime achievement award for her writing from the PEN American Center. In most of her works, Butler explored multiple social issues such as race, sexuality, gender, religion, and social class.
The main characters of this short fiction are Rye and Obsidian. They get their names from the exchanging of gifts that each had to give as a symbol of friendship. Obsidian presented Rye with a necklace with a black, shiny, igneous rock to keep, while Rye presented Obsidian with a pen that appeared to resemble wheat. The two of them are placed in this walking dead society as superiors. The main focus in Speech Sounds is the interpretation of the Illness, lack of communication among people, and the resulting isolation. Speech Sounds is a story about a disease that causes an entire society to develop an “impairment.” In the short story, the character Rye refers to this impairment as “The illness.” The illness had taken away the ability for human beings to communicate with one another, loss of human intelligence, and